The Canary Cry (The Arrowverse Chronicles 1)
by DCUnitedFanfics
Summary: A/U A Season 2 remake. Felicity's past comes back to haunt her in the darkest way possible. He father arrives to Starling City to kill her and Felicity fears more for Oliver and the others being harmed by her psycho father than being harmed by Slade Wilson. When Slade kidnaps her and injects her with a serum that turns her into a metahuman things get really crazy. *Deathsmoak*
1. Chapter 1

16 years ago…

 _"It's okay, Felicity," she heard her mother say almost faintly, holding the knife in her hands and blood trickling down her arms and dripping off her elbows. Felicity watched intently. She should do something. She should have stopped her. But she didn't. Felicity was only four. She simply stared. She did not scream. She did not cry. She simply watched. "Everything's going to be all right, Felly," she said to me before she falls slumped to the floor unconscious. I didn't remember much of what happened that night. All I can remember is seeing my mother with her wrist slit open and falling unconscious, and me calmingly dialling up 9-1-1 for help._

 _"9-1-1, what is your emergency?" Felicity heard a woman ask on the phone._

 _"Mommy killed herself," she told her. Felicity waited ten seconds before hanging up the phone._

 _"_ _Sweetie? Sweetie!"_

Today…

"Felicity…Fe-li-ci-ty!"

Felicity jumped with a fright at the sound of Oliver's voice and looked up to stare at him. She didn't hear him enter the building this morning. She was too concentrated on my work or perhaps She was too spaced out thinking of… _Never mind. I'll worry about that later._

"Oh, um, morning Mr. Queen," Felicity stood up and patted down my pink pencil skirt.

"You okay, Felicity?" he asked with a frown.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," she told him which was total lie, "Late night jobs are sometimes exhausting, if you know what I mean."

Oliver nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. Last night, Felicity was up analyzing the Mirakuru serum Oliver brought to her and wanted her to make a cure for Slade Wilson and his lapdog of Isabel Roshev. Felicity already gave the Mirakuru to Cisco and Caitlin to have it analyzed for her back at Central City. They would call her soon to see what the Mirakuru contained. Right now, they just had to wait and act casual. Felicity still worked for the QC, unfortunately, and so did Oliver even if he no longer owned the company. Isabel and Slade owned the company now. Felicity was just there because Oliver insisted. He needed eyes and ears in the building. But that didn't explain why Oliver still worked in the building. She thought it was because Slade and Isabel wanted to rub their success in his face.

"Maybe you should take the rest of the day off and go home to get some rest," he told her. Felicity bit her lower lip.

"I should but, unfortunately, I don't think it's up to me or to you to tell me that since you is no longer the owner of the QC," she sighed in deception, "Sorry if it offends you."

"I know. Listen…I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Slade. Whatever happens with me, has nothing to do with you, okay?" he told her lowly so no one else could hear. He was still upset about what happened to his mother. Slade killed her in cold blood. Felicity really feel so sorry for Moira now that she was dead and that Oliver lost his home, his sister, his club, his company and their headquarters. They gathered up everything they had from their headquarters before Verdant was shutdown. Felcity kept the rest of the equipment hidden at her apartment, except for the glass cases with costumes and bow and arrows. _No way in hell am I risking having the police enter my home to discover a bunch of Arrow stuff. No offense, Oliver._

"Yeah, I know."

"Mr. Queen."

Oliver's eyes rolled in annoyance and Felicity bit her lip again at the sound of Isabel's voice. She was standing behind Oliver and he had to turn around to face her. But Isabel wasn't alone. There was company that made Felicity's blood grow cold. Slade, also known as _Deathstroke_. Just simply looking at him made her skin crawl and sent chills up her spine. She also felt the colour from her face being drained out of her. _Crap. Calm down, Felicity. Calm down. Remember what Mom taught you; screaming will not get you anywhere._

"Our next board meeting is in the conference room at 9. Let's not be late again," Isabel said to Oliver who kept glaring at her all the while.

"…Of course not," he said, "We wouldn't want to disappoint our clients today, now do we?"

"Let's hope not," Slade finally spoke. Even hearing him made her jump. His voice was deep and gruff. Something Felicity wouldn't like to hear if I had nightmares. "Our clients are very important and they expect our best behaviour during the meeting. They are already aware of our strained relationship after Moira Queen's death and they would be very disappointed if we end up eating at each other's throats. If we do not make the best of it, we will end up losing the company."

Felicity hated to admit it but he was right. Any form of disagreement could be a great hazard for the company and to be honest, she didn't want to lose her job. It could end up being on her permanent record and ruin her reputation. She should probably start filing up her resumes at the hardware store across town just in case.

"Okay," Felicity heard Oliver say, "Board Meeting. Let's go." Then, he and Isabel walked away to the elevator and she was now alone with the most dangerous assassin in the world. _Oh motherfucking hell!_

More like BORED MEETING. All those people ever do was talk about investments and money, and competitions with other companies. Already, Oliver was secretly trying to ally himself with Ray Palmer to help him take down the QC into bankruptcy and get Slade and Isabel out. A good strategy. A good plan. Felicity still wondering how that was going to turn out at the end. She hoped Oliver knows what he's doing. She was worried that the whole Slade thing was getting to his head.

"Miss Smoak," Felicity watched Slade walk up to her desk and she immediately took a step back. He smiled at her but she didn't. _I don't trust him_. Oliver told her to never trust him. _He doesn't have to tell me twice._

"Yes, Mr. Wilson?"

"Would you attend our board meeting today?" he asked and my eyes widen. Is he really asking me that?

"I'm an IT girl, Mr. Wilson," I tell him the best excuse I can, "I simply do paperwork and files, and simply serve coffee."

"I am aware of that," he said, "The thing is I need your assistance. I need you to read out a few terms to our clients."

"Well, you can certainly read, why can't you do it?" _Shit. Me and my big mouth_. Slade kept looking sternly at her and for a moment, she thought he was going to slap her "…or maybe Oliver?...or Isabel?"

"I would, but if you have not notice, my job has very tiring these days and don't seem to be in the mood for my clients so I am asking for your assistants. As for Isabel and Mr. Queen, I doubt they would agree," he said, "But let me confess, I do not want you to attend because I need you to, I want you to attend because I want you to."

"Why?"

"When I look at you, I see something different behind those glasses of yours. Something intriguing and very useful. You are quite lovely, have you realized it?" he said. Felicity simply stared at him. It had been quite a while since anyone thought she was pretty, even after Barry Allen ended up in a coma or even after Copper…. _No, don't think about that, Felicity. Just don't. It's not healthy for you to think about the past._ "You are very lovely, Miss Smoak. Also, you are very intelligent. I need someone like you to attract clients."

"Are you asking to prostitute myself? Because I didn't come here to work in this company so I can sleep with strangers."

Felicity heard him chuckle deeply. In her head, she didn't think he was referring to that. _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

"In the board meeting, there will be men looking at you. They will see how lovely you are. When I ask them if they wish to work for me in the QC they will say _yes_. But they will not agree just for the investments, the Glades or to help the city. It is because they wish to be at your side. Of course, I have a great respect towards you since you are a woman." _What does he mean because I'm a woman?_ "I will certainly not allow my clients get distracted being near you. You will simply be there for entertainment, to manipulate our clients and perhaps they will end up eating out of our hands, and that's when we will have them working for us. I need you as a manipulation."

"So, technically, I'm a pawn in the meeting to trick the clienteles to work for you." He nodded.

 _That's a bit disturbing. It's almost the same as prostituting myself except that no man is going to touch me. Great. Sarcastically speaking, I feel much better now._

"Be ready to come up in a few minutes," he told her, "Also, I would need you to bring up coffee for us."

"Um…do you…do you mind if I ask who would be at the board meeting?" Felicity asked. I know it's none of my business asking this. I'm just the IT girl that takes orders. But I'm curious. I need to know what our clients are like.

"Raymond Palmer. Bruce Wayne. Alexander Luthor. Arthur Light. Mr. Wayne also brought in his ward which is enough of a headache for me," he turned to walk away, "Do not disappoint me, Miss Smoak." Then, he leaves.

 _Great. Now what? I'm I really gonna dress up like a slut to attract investors to work for him? Does he really think his plan can work? Even if it does work, what guarantees him that none of them would take advantage of me, like grabbing my ass or my breasts? Urgh. They better pay me extra for doing this sort of shit._

Felicity went to the bathroom to get ready for Slade's _scheme_ or whatever he was involving her in. _Oliver is going to be so mad at me for agreeing to this_. _He's going to kill me for this_. Lucky for Slade, Felicity sort of brought some extra clothes to work just in case she spilled coffee or if she had any plans after work. A royal blue dress with short sleeves, knee-length skirt and a V-neck collar. The gap was a bit too wide so she slipped on a black tank top underneath so no one would look at her breasts. She put away her pink pencil skirt and her white floral blouse in her bag. As for her hair, Felicity assumed men did not like women with ponytails, so, she simply removed the ponytail and allowed her blonde locks cascade over her shoulders. Felicity also put on some lipstick. The glasses stayed on though. _If Slade suggests for me to take off my glasses, he has another thing coming_. Felicity sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. _Does Slade really believe I can fool the investors with this? I doubt it._


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity headed for the elevator as quickly as possible before the doors closed on her and took her up to the top floor where the board meeting would take place. The meeting wasn't until 9. It's only 8:40.

Once she got to the top floor, Felicity stepped out of the elevator but not without tripping on her heels and nearly fell forward. Luckily, she was saved as a pair of hands grabbed waist and straightening her up.

"Careful, Miss Smoak, you wouldn't want to get hurt." And it had to be Slade. That was when she came to realize she almost fell in front of everyone present for the board meeting. _Kill me now. This is the last time I am wearing heels for work._ Felicity watched Slade looking up and down at her, probably admiring her dress.

"You look lovely," he smiled softly which kind of surprised her.

"Thanks," she bit her lip again. This was embarrassing. _I'll plan out my funeral later_.

"You forgot to bring the coffee, Miss Smoak," Isabel sneered at Felicity.

 _Oh, right, I knew I forgot something._ Felicity wasn't going to risk falling again going up and down the elevator to get coffee. If Isabel wanted coffee she could get it herself.

"Oh, sorry, the coffee maker broke," she lied apologetic.

"Then, why don't you go down stairs to fetch some at the coffee shop across the street?" Isabel asked. _Bitch_.

"Miss Rochev," Slade raised his voice slightly, which kind of startle Isabel a bit, "Let's not be rude today. We are all tired today but there is no reason to be rude to our IT girl."

"Exactly. _IT_ girl," she gritted her teeth at Felicity.

 _Yeah, that's right, I'm the IT girl. Also,_ _ **it**_ _girl._

"Miss Smoak will be joining us today in the board meeting," Slade said before paying attention to his investors. Bruce Wayne. Ray Palmer. Lex Luthor. Arthur Light. A young boy was sitting on a seat, wearing a professional suit just like the others and reading one of Charles Dickens' books. Felicity found it creepy that a kid is wearing an expensive suit and reading a Dickens books. She thought of Hannibal Lecter from the prequel movie. He must be Mr. Wayne's ward, as Slade had said. If only Mr. Wayne knew that this is a company, not a daycare center. "I hope you don't mind. She is my assistant. Miss Smoak, I'd like you to meet Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer ―."

"And I _know_ their names," Felicity said before he could finish. She wasn't stupid not knowing the names of Queens Consolidates' competitors. Of course, she didn't know the name of Mr. Wayne's ward.

"Um, Mr. Wilson, Miss Felicity Smoak is _my_ assistant," Oliver corrected. _Actually, Ollie, I only work for you when you're the Arrow, here, I don't really work for you._

"Mr. Queen, since this is no longer your company, she no longer works for you," Slade tells him, "She works for me. And so do you."

 _But I still work for the Arrow, Deathstroke. Don't you forget that?_ Felicity thought. But of course, Oliver shut up after he said that.

"Now, let us begin our meeting," he said as they all entered the office. The ward stayed behind.

"Damian, are you staying put or are you coming?" Mr. Wayne said to the young boy reading. The boy didn't look up from his book. _So, his name is Damian. Weird_.

"I tend to find your meetings quite unamusing," the boy said.

"So you'll wait here?" he asked.

"No, I am simply expressing my thoughts," he clamped the book shut and got up. He walked passed Bruce Wayne and then Felicity Smoak who was holding the glass door for them. The boy named Damian looked up and down at Felicity. "Good morning."

"Would you like something to drink?" she asked him. The boy looked a lot like Bruce aside from having green eyes and slightly darker skin.

"No thank you. Didn't you say the coffee maker was broken?" he smirked before walking into the meeting room, leaving Felicity wide-eyed.

 _Okay, that was a bit disturbing_ , Felicity thought as she shut the door once Bruce Wayne finally entered. _I was just going to offer him some water but…he knew that I was lying?_

Oliver was standing right next to Felicity and he didn't seem pleased at the attire she was wearing. He kept looking up and down at her with a frown on his face as if he never saw her wearing these kinds of dresses before. Felicity worn those dresses before every time she became bait for another of his missions as the Arrow which was sort of fun but it was not cool, like at all. So, he shouldn't be surprised if he saw her wearing another dress right now.

"What are you wearing?" he whispered to her.

"It's a dress, Ollie," Felicity whispered back.

"No, I mean why you are wearing it now?" he asks.

"Sorry. Mr. Wilson's orders."

"For what?"

"Beat's me," she lied.

The board meeting was kind of boring. Now Felicity knew why Slade wanted her to read out the terms out loud. He had already been standing half-an-hour explaining the current situation of the Queens Consolidated, how the aftermaths of the earthquake left disastrous economical results for both the company and the entire Starling City. Of course, many people had taken advantage of stealing money from banks after the earthquakes. They even stole a large portion of money from the QC which was now threatening the very existence of the company. Without investments, it was clear that QC would be bankrupted and threatened to be shut down permanently. It would make perfect sense. Of course, most of the explanation was making Felicity dizzy all the while and for a second she thought she saw Mr. Arthur Light nodding off and struggling to stay awake during the board meeting. Felicity pressed her lips together to avoid laughing. _This guy is just as bored of this meeting as I was._ She could also see Bruce Wayne's ward, Damian, trying to avoid laughing.

Felicity knew a lot about Arthur Light. He owned Light Industries back in New York. He was a scrawny-looking guy in a black and white suit, and had a very creepy pale face with ice blue eyes and beak-like nose. He somehow reminded Felicity of an old ally of hers while she was still studying at the MIT. _What was his name again? Oswald? Oswald Cobblepot_. _Yeah, that's him_.

Felicity wouldn't consider Oswald a friend. He was more of an acquaintance. He wasn't the kind of person you'd want to be friends with. He is a little bit ill-tempered and always liked being right in everything even if he's not right in _everything_. Also, he's sort of a conman and I do not make friendship with conmen like Cobblepot. We're still in touch though. He's, unfortunately, on my contact list on my phone. I only call him when I need him to do me a favour. One thing for sure is that Oswald is a man of negotiation and not a man of charity. If you want Oswald to do something for you, you have to do something for him. The very reason I try to avoid asking help from him as much as possible. One time, I asked him if he could tutor me on my Math homework, he asked me if I could model for him in a bikini in return and I was all like "Oh hell no!" and asked someone else instead. Oswald knows me to well, you can ask for any favours you want as long as it does not involve sex or me modeling in a bikini. He respects me.

But Arthur Light was another story. He was no Oswald Cobblepot. He was no friend of mine or an acquaintance. He was a bad man. And Oliver knew that too. He was arrested more than 40 times for aggression and rape and/or attempts of rape on young girls. One involved a girl named Carrie Kelly. _Poor girl_. Oliver was keeping a strict eye on Arthur Light for any signs of attempts towards her or Isabel. She just didn't see why Slade wanted that bastard as an ally for the Queens Consolidated.

Only 30 minutes later passed when Slade sat back down on his chair and eyed at her. _I think that's my cue to take his turn. Okay, Felicity, let's see what you can do. Don't go flirty in front of the investors. Just try to act like your natural self._ Charts appeared on the screen that was pulled down early before the meeting began.

When Felicity stood in front of everyone, she froze. _Not again_. It was that stupid stage fright she had since she was little, every time she had a spelling bee contest, a school play or a ballet recital. It was embarrassing for her. Felicity didn't even know what to say and everyone just kept staring at her, including Bruce Wayne's ward with the creepy green eyes. That was when Mr. Wilson gave her a clipboard with the papers she probably needed to read out loud. Felicity slightly turned to the chart but not turning her back on the others either. _One thing my mother taught me is to nerve turn my back to the audience._

"According to the charts, the ratings on our investments to Queens Consolidated is down by 59% which is ten times lower than the ratings that we had before which was 70%. The percentage of investments dropped drastically over the last two weeks," Felicity explained, glancing both at the papers and at the investors.

"And by what percentage was QC before the 59%?" Felicity heard Lex Luthor ask. She gulped nervously and tried very hard to keep her hands from shaking. She saw the boy whisper something to Bruce Wayne, only to be hushed.

"Um, two weeks ago, the investments on Queens Consolidated were down by 64% percent. The investments began to drop when the earthquake passed. It seems that the former investors of the company no longer wished to work Moira Queen after learning her involvement of the earthquake," Felicity read and immediately shut her mouth after the reading that last part. _What the fuck? Who the heck wrote this?_

"Of course, my mother had already apologized for the incident of the earthquake and wanted to prove that she can still do good for the city by becoming mayor of Starling City," Oliver said sternly. He seemed offended that people were still blaming Moira for the earthquake. _Damn_. "The least the people can do is giving her a bit of sympathy now that she's dead."

"They give you and Thea sympathy," Isabel retorted, "They don't really care about Moira. They simply feel pity over you two since both of you is still children."

"Sympathy is not really saving the company, is it?" the boy Damian snickered.

"Damian!" Bruce snapped, "Stop that."

He stayed quiet but Felicity could tell that he was not happy about being shut up.

"If the investments continue to drop, then Queens Consolidated will shut down indefinitely," Oliver said.

"And what do you think we should do about it?" Bruce Wayne asked, "It's your company now, Mr. Wilson, and you should know what to do with the situation. Why don't you ask Mr. Queen since he was the heir to the company?"

She noticed Slade glaring at Bruce Wayne. It was not the first time. Bruce Wayne was a bit difficult to work with. Oliver told her so. He could be quite arrogant and broody. And he had a very bad attitude. Felicity could tell by the way he spoke to the boy. Slade did not seem to like working with Bruce Wayne. Felicity, on the other hand, had a very fearful respect for Mr. Wayne. He was kind of scary even though handsome, if you thought about it.

"I am practically pleading, Mr. Wayne," Slade told him before turning to Felicity. He wanted her to continue.

"I think what Mr. Wilson is trying to say is that he wishes to form an alliance with each of your companies. Wayne Enterprises. Lex Corp. Light Industries. Palmer Technologies. You are all known for your great companies. If you help us invest in our company to reach its 70% or more, you'll be rewarded with 40% of what the company earns…"

 _WTF? Is Slade really asking for this? Is he really going to sell out Oliver's company to these people without Oliver's consent? This is complete bullshit. Oliver is certainly not going to agree with this._

"You're kidding me, right?" Felicity heard Oliver say. She could see the hurt in his eyes. Oh God. "Slade, you're selling my father's company!?"

"He's not selling it, Oliver," Isabel stood up with her hands behind her back, "We're simply trying to invest this company back on float, with the help of other companies. Mr. Wilson will still be CEO of Queens Consolidated. The only difference is that 30% of what the companies owns will be transferred to the others companies, if they agree of course."

 _Hey, Miss Bitch-a-lot, it's almost the same thing_. Slade would still be selling out the company by giving them 30% of the profits and to be honest, that didn't seem like a very fair negotiation for Oliver. Unfortunately, he had no say in this. He's no longer the owner, unfortunately. _Shit. Why did Slade involve me in this mess?_

"I don't think this is a good idea," Oliver said.

"You don't have a say in this, Mr. Queen," Isabel said, "You are no longer the owner of this company. Slade Wilson is now."

Suddenly, Oliver stood up and calmly left the board meeting, leaving Felicity alone with the others. _Oh, thanks a lot, Ollie_. Felicity knew what it meant. He was going back to the Arrowcave and lash out his rage on punching bags, the sticks, the salmon ladder and a few drinks before calling Diggle for his next mission. She would give him an update. _I just can't believe he left me here alone with these people._

"Please, forgive Mr. Queen, he is still mourning over his mother's death and is trying to cope with the fact that Mr. Wilson is now in charge of the company." Isabel said with the same smug look on her face. _You have already mentioned that, you stupid cunt. I ought to rip your hair out for this_. And as for you Slade…she really had no idea what to do with Felicity since she already had the ability to rip her limbs with one tug.

"It's no problem," Ray Palmer suddenly spoke up, "but we're still not sure if we can trust uniting our companies with yours after your previous situation. We'd had to put a lot of thought into all of this, don't you agree, Mr. Wayne?"

"I believe so," he said. Finally, someone of voice of reason. "This does not change the fact that Moira Queen was infamous for her outrageous alliance with Malcolm Merlyn before the quake."

"Why can't we just raise the taxes from the habitants of the city?" Mr. Light asked. _Wow, for the CEO of medical implements department, he was really stupid._ Caitlin once told her that Mr. Light once worked for S.T.A.R. Labs once but was fired for being a psycho. Felicity thought he was fired for being _dangerously_ stupid.

"We're the CEO, not the government," Felicity suddenly said out loud, "We're not in charge of changing the law or rising taxes. And if you forget, the previous mayor was assassinated and Sebastian Blood is still running as candidate even after Moira Queen died."

"We could always ask Sebastian Blood to do us the favour?"

 _That is if he ends up being the mayor of Starling City, idiot._

"Would you rather save the company from bankruptcy or be chased by an angry mob of citizens with pitchforks and flamed torches?" Felicity said. _Shit. Why can't I shut up? I want to die right now_.

"Miss Smoak, I don't think you have the right to speak to our clients this way," Isabel almost snarled at me. Damian seemed to find it funny since he almost burst out laughing.

"Unfortunately, Miss Smoak is correct," Slade said, "We must find a way to insure the company without driving the city into poverty more than it is right now. And allying ourselves is the best solution for us. You will have time to think if you wish to work with us or not. 23 hours and that's all I will give. Do you agree?"

"I do not agree with the fact this company was first owned by Moira Queen before being handed over to Oliver Queen but this place _does_ have its appeals," Lex Luthor eyed at Felicity. Well, it meant that Slade's scheme was working but she still did not agree with him selling the company to separate industries. _This can't be happening_.

"Well, now that we've got this discussion settled, I believe it's time for lunch," Slade stood up and adjusted his dark red tie before looking at Isabel, "Have you made reservations for lunch?"

"I thought that was the IT girl's job," Isabel mocked her. _There's something called the Internet which is something you have access to._

"I was unaware I had to make a reservation," Felicity said. Slade gave her a strange look. He wasn't really angry with me. He seemed puzzled that she didn't know she was forced to make a reservation for lunch with the other CEOs.

"We will solve this on the way," he said. The others followed Isabel out of the conference room.

Felicity could hear the boy complain to Bruce Wayne about how the meeting was still boring but was still amused because of the argument. Felicity didn't see how a fight for the company was funny. "The executive assistant is cute," he had said, "not _your_ type though."

"And what would you know what my type is?" Bruce asked.

"I know very well of your taste in women," Damian said.

"And what makes you think you can talk to me like that?" Bruce said sternly. The boy only smirked.

"Well, I am just a _ward_ , now am I? I'm not officially part of the family."

"I should have left you back home with Alfred."

"Maybe you should have. I find Pennyworth more entertaining than your meetings and yet he stills bores me to sleep."

Felicity cleaned up a few things. Papers scattered on the table and the screen still pulled down. She also worked to do. She couldn't believe Slade made her do that bullshit. She was really mad at him right now.

"Would you care to join us for lunch, Miss Smoak?" he asked. Felicity forgot he was still here. _Fuck_.

"I have a lot of work to do, Mr. Wilson," she told him, "Besides, I'll order lunch in some place less expensive, if you don't mind. There's this new meal at Big Belly Burgers across the street I wanted to try. Also...who the hell brings a kid to a board meeting?"

"Mr. Wayne apologized early for that predicament," he said, "But since the boy is his ward, he thought of showing him around before adopting him."

"I think he should reconsider," she pointed out, "Has he seen the movie _Orphan_ or _Joshua_? Or _The Omen_? He better pray that that kid doesn't end becoming the next Hannibal Lecter."

The papers suddenly slid from her fingers and fell scattered to the floor.

"Crap," she grumbled before kneeling to pick them up one by one. To her surprise, Slade was also kneeling on the floor and was helping her pick up the papers. "I got 'em."

"I thought you'd needed help," he said.

"Thanks but I can handle this myself," Felicity snatched the papers he had in his hand and gathered them all in hers before standing up. He stood up as well and gave her a frown. She didn't want him helping her. She didn't want him anywhere near her.

"Have I done something to offend you, Miss Smoak?" he asked.

"Oh, jeez, what do you think?" she asked sarcastically, "I was used as a pawn to persuade men into working for you only to find out I was helping you selling out the company to the Queen's competitors."

"I am not selling the company, Miss Smoak," he frowned at her.

"Sure looks like it," Felicity retorted, "Now I feel like I just betrayed my friends."

"Mr. Queen no longer owns the company, Miss Smoak, which means you no longer work for him."

"Even if Oliver no longer owns this place, I still work for him in other ways, if you know what I mean…and not in a sexual way before you say anything," _Why the hell did I say that last part?_

"I take it not much else." _Damn it. I hate this guy. Good thing I'm a calmed person and don't lash out like Oliver does._

"Look, I understand that you and Oliver have some kind of feud for what happened at Lian Yu but I have limits to how much I can get involved. I help Oliver take down villains. I don't help villains take down Oliver. And I will not allow you to use me as a pawn against my friend. The next time this happens again, I am quitting Queens Consolidated, do you understand?"

"So, I'm guessing you won't be aiding me in the next board meeting," he chuckled. _He really thinks this is funny. He's enjoying this. He did this on purpose, I know it. How dare him!_ Felicity found Bruce Wayne's ward more tolerable than this man.

"Yeah, that won't be happening again," I rant before leaving the conference room, "Ever!"

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid_. Felicity should have known it was all a trick, making her an accomplice of selling the Queen's company. If she ever had to go through that again, she was bailing the city, not caring what Oliver would say. Felicity would not be toyed with anymore. Slade was going to know that Felicity was not _that_ blonde innocent and naïve IT girl he thought she was. Felicity hated him for that. _He's going to pay for this…right after I have my lunch at Big Belly's Burger_.

Felicity heard they had this new special. Cheese n' Steak Burger. The good thing about Big Belly's Burger was that it was nearby. She simply had to cross the street and walk two blocks. She ordered her burger along with a bottle of water and a chocolate milkshake. She liked chocolate. Betty always gave Felicity her usual order which was bacon cheese, so, she was surprised when Felicity told her she wanted to try the new special today. At least she knew she liked chocolate milkshake. Felicity wondered if Rachel would like Big Belly Burgers. She promised her she would take her here on Friday with the permission of the caretaker. Felicity always asked permission before taking Rachel out. Maybe she would like Big Belly Burgers.

"So, how's your mom?" Betty asked.

"Um, Donna's fine. She says she might come down here to Starling City to visit."

"She better not wear that dress she wore here like last time," Betty hissed, "I almost got sued for public nudity."

"She wasn't even naked," Felicity chuckled.

"Yeah, but did you see the damn dress she was wearing?" She then disappeared into the kitchen.

Felicity remembered. Donna came here in a blue veil dress that was showing her bra and panties, and the manager almost called the police and nearly got Betty fired. Felicity even told Donna to never enter dressed like that again. But Donna was a cocktail waitress working at a strip club. Can you blame her?

"I'll tell her to wear something appropriate when she comes here."

"Felly?"

Felicity froze at the mention of her nickname. A lot of people called her _Felly_ but it had been a while since anyone had called her by that name. The only people she knew that ever called her that was her mother, Donna, Michael and… _Oh no_.

Felicity turned around and there he was, giving her the smile. The smile that tormented her in her nightmares for more than 20 years.

"Aren't you going to give the old man a hug?"

Colton Smoak. Her father.

"Colton. You're here?"

"Colton? Wow, I'm a bit disappointed you called me that. I expected for you to at least call me _Dad_."

"Well, that is your name…What are you doing here?" Felicity asked, making sure her voice wasn't squeaking. She felt the knot in my stomach tightening. _Why can't he just go away?_

"I came to see you after all these years. I heard you were living here in Starling City and I thought that you and I could catch up."

"I'm actually working," she lied. She had an hour of lunch break. "I only have a five minute lunch break."

"I thought we might talk for a few minutes."

"Yeah, but as you can see. I'm very busy, so, we'll talk later," she told him, quickly grabbing her take-out bag and my milkshake. She needed to get away from him as soon as possible. She didn't want him anywhere near her. She didn't want anything to do with him.

"Felly, wait…Felly."

Felicity ignored him and walked out of Big Belly Burgers as quickly as possible, trying to get a good distance from him. She tried very hard not to cry as she crossed the street (looking both ways first, of course) and returned to Queens Consolidated. She wasn't planning on eating at her workplace. But now that her father was back, she didn't have much of a choice. She don't want him here. He had already ruined her life. He was the reason her mother's dead. Felicity never wanted to see him again as long as she lived.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Felly, Nightmares and Handprints

 _Felicity once had a Raggedy Ann doll when she was little. She used to call her Annie like the musical movie. She used to hug her every night when she was too afraid of the dark to sleep. But mostly when she was afraid of her father. Her mother and father used to fight a lot. She always hid under the bed so none of them would find her. On this occasion Felicity accidently left the door to her bedroom open and could see her parents fighting in the hallway. They kept yelling at each other. She stayed quiet under the bed._

 _"You're nothing but a sick fuck, Colton, and that's all you'll ever be!" She heard her mother yell._

 _"Ah, fuck you, Evelyn! You're so fucking useless! Now where's Felicity!?" She heard her father shout back. This made her flinch at the mention of her name._

 _"You're not going near our daughter, you bastard! You leave her alone! Do you hear me!? You leave her the fuck alone!"_

 _They always fought. A few minutes later she got out from under the bed. Her father had gone. He was probably in one of those bars, drinking vodka and looking at other girls dancing. When Felicity went to the living room, she saw her mother sleeping on the couch with the television on. The thing was that one of her eyes was a dark purple hue._

 _"Mommy? Are you okay?" Unfortunately, she was too deep asleep to respond. And Felicity placed her Raggedy Ann doll next to her._

"Did you enjoy your lunch, Miss Smoak?" Felicity jumped at the sound of Slade voice again. _Damn. Why am I so easy to scare?_ She did just encounter her father today so it justified the reason why she was jumpy today. She didn't hear Slade come in either. He and his new allies probably returned from their lunch, one which she refused to join after that little stunt in the conference room. Also, she had enough hearing from the creepy kid that was with Bruce Wayne.

"Yes. I did. And you?" She lied. She could barely eat down her lunch after encountering her father and her stomach kept twisting into knots. She was afraid she would throw up for forcing the food down her throat.

"Very good. Mr. Queen did not join us though."

 _There's a shock_. She knew this would happen.

"He stepped out. He said he had very important things to do," she smiled.

He stayed silent for a moment and Felicity frowned.

"Do not take me a fool, Miss Smoak," he said, "You and I both know where he is…You are no longer wearing the dress."

 _Oh, I've noticed_. After eating her lunch, Felicity went to the bathroom to change from the blue dress and got back to her white floral blouse and pink pencil skirt but kept her hair down. Also, I took off her heels. Her feet were killing her. She thought they were even blistering.

"Why, yes, since the meeting is over, I thought it would be best if I changed back into my old clothing."

His brow furrowed and she noticed the Adam's apple on his throat going down before going back up again. He just gulped at her. And his fingers kept tapping at her desk. _Was he nervous? If he is, why?_ He has never looked nervous before. He was always stoic.

"...I came here to ask if you could copy some files for the next board meeting," he says, placing a thin yellow folder on her desk. _I guess I have some work to do_. "I need twenty copies."

"I'll get them ready for you in a few minutes then."

"Good." He looked up and down at Felicity again. She didn't like it when he's looking at her like that. She just got back from the creepiest encounter of her life. The last thing that she needed was for some psycho like Slade Wilson staring at her.

Felicity stood up from her rolling chair and walked around the desk to step in front of him in her bare feet. He was probably 6 feet tall, a lot taller than Felicity and taller than Oliver. She wondered if he also has muscle like Oliver does underneath that suit… _Not that I want to see his muscles_. Well, not that she thought he wouldn't look hot under his suit. _I mean, I don't think he's hot. Well, I would think he's hot if he wasn't a murderer/mercenary. I just think Oliver's better. I mean…what the fuck, Felicity Smoak?_ She could just slap herself right now if she spoke that out loud. Thank God she didn't.

"Why?"

"Why what?" he asked, his eyebrow rising and his posture becoming straighter.

"Why are you doing this to us…to Oliver, I mean?" Felicity asked. She knew everything about Lian Yu but Oliver didn't really gave her the details. He didn't seem to want to talk about it.

"Oliver needs to pay for his mistakes," he kissed her hand. "And I will make sure he pays for everything he has done."

"What has Oliver ever done to you at that island?" she asked. He only responded to her with a smile. She hated when he did that. That only meant one thing. He was never going to answer her question.

"Mr. Wilson." They turned to see Isabel standing a few feet away from them and she was staring sternly at Felicity. "We have to discuss our evening plans for tonight, if you don't mind."

"Of course." He releases my hand, "…You might want to ask that question to your dear Oliver, Miss Smoak." And he walked into his office which used to be Oliver's office.

"By the way," Isabel walked over to Felicity and she took a step back, afraid that she might hit her or something for being near Slade, "I just checked in with maintenance manager, it turns out the coffee maker is just fine."

"Hmmm. My mistake then," Felicity smiled softly at her. _Bitch. You're nothing but a fucking dictating cunt and that I ought to thank you._

"Don't let it happen again, Miss Smoak." Then, she entered Mr. Wilson's office, flipping her brown hair back.

 _Hmm. I wonder how long they have been fucking each other in bed, not that I think they've had sex before. Have they? Why the heck am I thinking of that? What the heck is wrong with me?_

Felicity headed over to the room where the copy machines were. She didn't even want to know what was on these files. She was not even gonna read them. She was just going to copy the files, hand them over to Slade and get the hell back to her usual work as the EA girl, fetching layouts, making appointments and serving coffee. That was her usual habit these days. She wished she could go back to hacking now. She was so desperate to leave the building tonight and get back to her other job as the Arrow's hacker. She felt more like herself when she was there. After she copied the files, she headed over to Mr. Wilson's and placed the copies and the original document on his desk before heading back to her own without making any conversation or eye contact with him.

She continued doing her daily work. Well, honestly, she was multitasking. While doing work on Queens Consolidated, she had been also doing some investigation on William Tockman who escaped jail in Central City and was trying to hack every bank security system, including the bank account for the Wayne's. She hoped he wouldn't mess up her computer system again like last time. She had to get a new computer system and install a new and very effective firewall to keep him (or any other hacker) from breaking into the system again.

She looked up from her work and gasped when she saw Bruce Wayne's ward standing right in front of her across her desk.

"Oh my God, please don't do that. I think my heart just stopped there."

"Did I startle you, Miss Smoak?" He asked bluntly while staring at her plainly. Felicity found Bruce Wayne's ward Damian to be very creepy and he looked ten or eleven. Too young to be acting like that. On the other hand, Felicity did see the movie Joshua so…yeah.

"Um, yes. But I'm good. Is there something I can help you with? Damian, is it?"

"Yes," he nodded, "I was hoping you can tell me where my father is. Alfred and I have been waiting in the car for more than 20 minutes and hasn't showed up yet."

"Well, I think he's in Mr. Wilson's office, talking a few things," Felicity said.

"Oh," he said, almost sorrowfully, "I'm guessing he still needs a word with Miss Rochev."

"…Would you like for me to call him?" Felicity asked while grabbing the phone and offering it to him. The boy shook his head.

"No, thank you," he said, "I'll just sit over here and wait."

He sat in the waiting room and continued reading his Charles Dickens' book. Felicity felt bad for the boy. She was aware of Bruce Wayne's reputation of dating and sleeping with a lot of women and felt that wouldn't be a good influence around children. Especially the creepy Damian kid. But Felicity knew it was not her place to give Bruce Wayne fatherly advice, unless she wanted to get fired. Her only job was to keep her mouth shut and work as an IT/EA. So, she continued her work, still feeling bad for Damian.

Felicity dozed off every once in a while. She was so exhausted. Arrow was hard work. She really needed some rest. She would nod off every now and then. Felicity sometimes drank a mug full of coffee or slap herself in the face to keep awake. But eyes were heavy. She closed her eyes for a moment. _If I could just close my eyes for one moment…Nope. Work first. Sleep later._

She opened her eyes.

She was no longer in Queens Consolidated.

She was at her old home…in Nevada. The same old house where her mother died. _How did I get here?_

The house did not seem to change at all since she left it. She was in the living room. There's the same old red paisley couch and the wooden coffee table with stacks of magazines and news-papers on it. The TV was on. They were showing _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ and Dorothy was singing _Somewhere Over the Rainbow_. Felicity used to watch that movie a lot when she was little. Her favourite character was always the Cowardly Lion _. Why am I here?_

She heard small footsteps and immediately turned around to see a little girl standing right behind me. She gasped and jumped back.

The girl was very small and seems about four years old. She was very pale like a sheet of paper, almost as pale as Rachel. Her eyes were a shade of green-blue like Felicity's and her hair was black as coal. Felicity recognized her face. _Is that…me?_

"Hello…What's your ―?"

"Mommy's dead," she said to her. The younger Felicity seemed calm when she said that as if she was not afraid. She was not afraid when her mother died. It was just sad. Felicity did not even scream that day. Felicity had black hair back then…like her father's.

She walked away from the living room and headed for the kitchen. Felicity followed her.

When they entered the kitchen, Felicity saw her. Her mother. Evelyn Smoak. She almost forgot what she looked like until now. She simply lay there on the floor. Her green-blue eyes were open and lifeless, and her blonde wavy hair tousled around. Her wrists were slit open and smeared in blood just like Felicity remembered. She tried not to cry at the sight. _Why Mom? Why did you kill yourself? I thought you loved me._ _You said you would take care of me. You said you would protect me and not let anyone hurt me_.

But she noticed something… _Is that?...Is that a slash on her throat_?

"He's coming." She heard her younger version gasp in fear and they both hear footsteps approaching the kitchen. At the door that leads to the back porch. Who's coming? "We need to hide. We can't let him find us."

Before Felicity could see who was coming, she ran upstairs to the second floor and followed her. Felicity don't remember running upstairs after her mother died nor did she remember hearing someone in the house besides her. She was home alone that day. Just her and her mother. There was no one else here.

Felicity followed her younger self to her old room. It was just as she remembered. Pink walls with a white bed, porcelain dolls and plush toys. Felicity had a ballet music box on her old dresser. Felicity used to dance to the music. She never took it with her when she was brought to Aunt Donna. She thought it would bring her bad memories if she took her old stuff with her.

"Psst."

Felicity saw the little girl crouched inside her old closet behind her old dresses and coats.

"In here," she said.

Felicity entered the closet, crouching down next to her and shut the closet door, dim light penetrating through the open slits. She looked through the slits as if watching for someone to coming. _Who's coming? Who or what are we hiding from_?

"Felly," She said her nickname and she looked at her. "Who's here? Who are we hiding from?"

"…He killed Mommy," she said and Felicity's eyes widened.

The closet door suddenly burst open and hands dragged a screaming Felly out of the closet. Felicity screamed as well and tried to grab her but the door shut at her face before she could reach for her. She slammed my fists against the door, screaming "No!" The screams soon died out and it was dead silent. _What the hell was that? What grabbed the girl? And what she was talking about? Who killed my mother?_ No one could have killed her mother. She did it to herself. They were alone. They were alone. She killed herself.

The door burst open again and hands grabbed Felicity by the hair. Felicity screamed as she pulled out from the closet and was being slammed against the walls, her face crashing against the pink painted walls. She heard the bridge of her nose crack and blood smeared the walls. Felicity screamed and screamed and screamed. She tried to see her attacker's face but every time she tried to do so, she was being slammed against the walls repeatedly. Felicity was now slammed to the window, the glass cracking as my face crashed against it.

She was soon thrown to the floor and kicked in the stomach. She coughed at the kick. Her attacker straddles her and he took a hold of her throat. _No. No, I don't want to die. I don't want to die especially here._

Her attacker brings out a knife. Felicity screams, covering her face with her forearm as the blade cut skin.

"Felicity!" And she was slapped across the face.

Felicity opened her eyes and there was Oliver staring down at her.

She was no longer back at home in Nevada where she was being attacked. Felicity was in Queens Consolidated in Starling City and she was sitting on the floor with her back reclined against the wall. Everyone working in QC, including Oliver, Slade and Isabel, Mr. Wayne and his ward were staring at me in shock. It was all a nightmare. It wasn't real. And yet, she was still shaking from the shock. Felicity noticed her glasses were lying shattered on the white tiled floor. She touched the bridge of her nose and looked at her hand. It was smeared with blood. Her nose is broken like in the nightmare. Her blouse was covered in blood as well. Felicity also noticed the windows behind her desk were cracked and smeared in blood as well. And a potted plant was knocked over as well with dark earth scattered. _What the hell happened? How the heck did I end up lying here on the floor away from my desk? And who the fuck slapped me?_

"Felicity…are you okay?" Oliver asked her with a worried and scared look on his face. _I don't know anymore._

"What happened?"

"We were just going to ask the same thing," he said. "What happened?"

"I ― I can't remember. I ― I don't know," she stammered. She was so scared. "Oliver, what happened?" I asked, not caring if I was only allowed to refer him as Mr. Queen when at work.

"I was on my way here…Isabel called me…She said she saw you sleeping on your desk when you suddenly began to scream…You were pulling at your hair…You were hitting your face against the windows. I came here as fast as I could and had to put you down ―."

"Oliver, I don't know what happened. I swear. I don't ―." Felicity suddenly began to cough and gasp.

"Someone get some water and somebody call a damn ambulance!" Oliver shouted out. Diggle was here as well. He began to dial 9-1-1 and headed over to the lounge to find some water if there's any left.

"The rest of you…" We both hear Slade shout out, "Get back to work! None of this is your bloody business!"

They all scrambled away in panic. They're probably just afraid of being fired from their jobs. God. Bruce Wayne also walked away with Damian. Damian nearly stopped to approach Felicity but Bruce placed a hand on his shoulder and told him it was time to go. They left.

"Mr. Queen…I suggest you take Miss Smoak home," Slade said sternly but he kept staring her with concern. _How can you tell? He always looks cold. It's hard to tell if he was worried about me or not. He simply stood there staring._

"I'm so sorry," Felicity apologized, more to Olive. "I ― I don't know what happened."

"Listen, Felicity. You're okay."

"Oliver," Diggle came back with a bottle of water in his hand, "I called the ambulance. They'll be here in a few minutes. You okay, Felicity?"

"I'm fine," Felicity said. Diggle gave her the bottle of water. She opened up the cap and drank a big gulp. It felt refreshing going down her throat. She didn't need to go to the hospital. _I'm fine_. She simply broke her nose hitting her face against the windows. _Dear God in heaven_. She could feel the pain now. Her head was throbbing.

"She needs to go home, Mr. Queen," Slade kept insisting. Oliver simply glared at him. Please don't punch each other in the face. Please don't punch each other in the face.

"She needs to go to a hospital," Oliver said. _Are they really going to fight over a decision whether I should go home or to a hospital?_ _They don't have to decide for me_. If she wanted to go home, she would go home. If she wanted to go to the hospital, she'd go to the hospital. And honestly, she wanted to go home and lie down.

"Her amount of physical damage is not grave enough for her to be taken to a hospital but traumatic state is enough to send her home and rest. I suggest you do so."

"I don't take orders from you, Slade." Oliver stood up and straightened his jacket before stalking over to Slade. _Oh God no. Come on, Oliver, please don't do this here._

Felicity quickly stood up on her feet and got between them to keep them from fighting each other, placing both of her hands against their chests which was quite embarrassing for her.

"Okay…um…guys. Stop," Felicity told them both. "This is not the time or the place to be going all vigilante everywhere right now. Right now, you are Oliver Queen, the former rich boy that just lost his house, his mother and his company. And this guy is Slade Wilson, the guy who took your company and is planning on selling…which is not really helping in this conversation, I don't know why I said that out loud while he's still standing right here next to me and why am I still talking, I don't know why…Listen, I really don't need to go to the hospital. I'm practically fine. I only have a broken nose."

"Actually, it's dislocated, not broken," Slade corrected Felicity and she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Anyways, I actually would like to go home," she said to him, "Can I go home? I'd like to go home."

"I'm not stopping you, love," Slade said. Felicity really would prefer if he stopped calling her that. _I'm not his love. I'm nobody's love._

Oliver sighed. "I'll have Diggle cancel out the paramedics and he'll take you home."

"I can drive home by myself," Felicity said stubbornly, "I don't need anyone to drive me home. I have a car you know."

"For once, I agree with Mr. Queen," Slade said, "You are in no conditions to be driving, especially after what happened."

"But I'm fine ―."

"No buts, Felicity. We're leaving now." Felicity grabbed her by the wrist and he was dragging her away like a little kid after being caught eating sand from the playground, not that she had done it.

"Oh, Miss Smoak."

Both Felicity and Oliver stopped in their tracks when they heard Slade call them back. The turn to face him. What does he want now?

"One more thing," he trailed off. Before Felicity could react, his fingers grabbed the bridge of her nose and she felt a crack that made me yelp in pain. She touched the bridge of her nose where it had been broken only to find it straightened again. "You might want to bandage it when you get home."

Still glaring at him cautiously, Oliver dragged her away.

"That hurt," she muttered.

Diggle took Felicity home in his car. _Great. I'm wondering how the hell am I going to get my car back? Do I have to walk all the way to QC to pick it up tomorrow or I need to ask for free rides for now on? No way in hell will I let that happen. Besides, I could have driven home by myself. I'm perfectly fine._ Once Felicity got home, she was greeted by her neighbour, Mrs. Fernandez that lives right nextdoor. She asked what happened to her nose. Felicity lied to her, saying that she accidently fell and hit the pavement on the way home. She didn't see Diggle bring her here. Then, she asked for her cat Rusty. He ran off again. Felicity told her she didn't see him but she would keep an eye open if he shows up again. Rusty is always running. Perhaps he's getting tired of being suffocated by his owner's smooches and over-feeding. That would definitely give me a reason to run away. But he'll turn up soon. He always turns up.

Once entering her apartment, Felicity went to take a shower. Hot showers always made her feel better after having nightmares of being thrown around like a ragdoll in her old home when in real life she was being thrown like a ragdoll in QC. _That was awful. Now everyone's going to be staring me like I'm crazy. Crazy Felicity Megan Smoak, beating herself in her sleep._

To her it felt too real to be a dream though. She took off her clothes that were stained in her blood and threw them all in a hamper for her to wash later. She relaxed under the rain that spurted out from the showerhead. It calmed her down a bit, driving bad thoughts of her past away in a soothing hot rain. She still felt a bit sore. Whatever happened must have hurt her pretty badly. She cleaned the blood from her face. Slade was right. She needed to bandage it. _It really hurt when he forced it back into place. It hurt like hell._

After finishing showering, Felicity took a large towel to wrap it around her body and another one to dry her hair. She opened up the cabinet door and rummaged through for bandages, cotton balls and rubbing alcohol to clean up the infection. She shut the cabinet door and looked at herself in the mirror. _God. I look awful. I look like I was jumped by thugs in an alleyway and got a good beating._

Her right cheek was bruised purple, her left eyebrow was cut, the bridge of her nose was grotesquely cut and darkened after the blood dried and her lower lip was cut and a bit puffy. _God. I can't believe I walked out of QC like this_. The worst part was that everyone saw. Also, her glasses were broken. Luckily, she had spares. She hissed when cleaning up the cuts, especially the one on the arm, with rubbing alcohol and patched up the bridge of her nose and the cut on her eyebrow. _Now I look like a dork_. _Well, I always looked like a dork wearing my glasses but now I feel more like a dork wearing both glasses and a bandage on my nose_. _Nerds in high school have never looked better right now._

But Felicity quickly noticed something on her shoulder. The right one. Bruises. Felicity didn't remember getting hurt on the shoulder. She took a closer look at the bruise. A handprint. But this print looked too large to be made by her hands and it was also too big to be Oliver's hands. Could it have been Slade? No. Slade was in his office with Isabel when this happened. He didn't even come near her except for when he straightened her nose. Besides, this handprint seemed a few inches much smaller than Slade's hands. _Then, who's handprints are these?_

 **I** **know that it's weird adding Damian Wayne to the story and that most people hate Damian Wayne but I feel like writing his character will add something interesting in the story, if you guys trust me, because I know some readers will have some doubt about me adding Damian Wayne to the story. But trust me, guys, I know what I'm doing. Just be a bit patient.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading _Black Smoak_ and its rewrite. I still have a few chapters to correct and another chapter of _Black Smoak_ to add so...I'm getting there.**


	4. Chapter 4: Momma Smoak

Felicity couldn't sleep that night after finding the handprints on her back and shoulders. She stayed up all night on the sofa, watching _Friends_ with Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer. She drank coffee and laid on the sofa, keeping the TV at the volume where she wouldn't fall asleep. Felicity didn't want to sleep again that night. She didn't want to have the same nightmares and ending up waking up to realize she self-harmed herself again. She never did anything like that before.

She kept dozing off every now and then. She had to close her eyes every now and then but since she feared of having the same nightmare again, she always snapped them open. She was always relieved that she was still in her apartment and not in the old house where her mother died. She wanted to sleep but was too scared to sleep.

It was already morning. Felicity wanted to go back to work but Oliver insisted she took the day off until she felt better. She felt better. _I'm just tired, that's all_. But there was nothing she could do about it right now. She did just as Ollie is told her. _I'm taking a sick-day_. She made chicken noodle soup for lunch and had a few movies to watch to keep myself from getting bored.

Felicity sat on the floor and began to do abdominal exercises. 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10. She did three more sets of it before continuing to do push-ups. _Just because Oliver, Roy, Diggle and Sara train, doesn't mean that I can't. I'm part of the team too._

After doing a bit of exercise, Felicity went to brush her teeth when she heard a knock on her door. It was probably her neighbour again looking for Rusty...again.

"Mrs. Fernandes," She walked over to the front door with her toothbrush in hand and unlocked the door, "I've already told you, I haven't seen your _caaaaaaat_..." When she opened the door, she found herself face to face with Rusty. He was a slightly fat orange cat with green eyes. Felicity wasn't surprised of Rusty, she was surprised of the one who was holding him.

"I thought someone might be looking for him." Slade.

"Holy shit."

Felicity immediately snatched Rusty from his hands and slammed the door in his face. That was a bit rude in her part. But he was a mercenary. Can you blame her?

Felicity petted Rusty's head and held him tightly as she hid behind the kitchen counter. Of course, it didn't guarantee Slade won't bust the door down for slamming it in his face. _I'm so going to die...and in my pajamas. Great._ She was only wearing her Raggedy Ann pajama pants and a lavender tank top. Also, no bra. _I pray he did not see anything behind it._

"Miss Smoak, I suggest you open the door before I tear it open," his calm voice was muffled behind the door but his threats were clear as he knocked on the door.

"Could you please go away?" she asked nicely.

"No."

"How the hell did you find me!?" she snapped.

"Your profile in Queens Consolidated is not very private as many people think it is and quite easy to hack," he said.

"Yeah? Well, I'll be moving soon and I'll change my address. In fact, I'm not going to give out my address at all," she told him, "Can you please leave before I call the cops...or Oliver?"

"He will not even know I was here."

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked, better safe than sorry.

"Not today," he said. Not today, as in one day. "We'll have time for that late. We have other things to discuss."

Felicity cautiously came out of hiding but with one of her kitchen knives in her hand. She put down Rusty and slow went to the door. She opened it. Slade was still standing there. _Damn it_.

"Slade, what are you doing here? What do you want?" Felicity asked.

"To talk," he brushed pass her and entered her apartment, snatching the kitchen knife from her hand and bending it like paper before throwing it to the floor.

"There's something called a telephone," she reminded him while shutting the door, leaving it unlocked just in case she needed to bolt out of her apartment, "You should try it some time."

"A lovely place you have here. A lot of space" Slade just entered uninvitingly to her apartment and broke one of her kitchen appliances. _How rude of him_. She immediately went over to the kitchen to wash the toothpaste from her mouth and returned to the living room. He was already sitting on the sofa without her permission. He took notice of the purple foam matt on the floor. "You must be working out a lot in the mornings."

"I - I," she stammered, "I'm going to put on a bra..."

She quickly went to her bedroom and closed the door. She thought of locking the door to keep him from going near her and call Oliver immediately. The phone was right there on her nightstand. She could climb out the window. However, Oliver informed her that the Mirakuru gave Slade enhanced hearing. If Slade heard the clicking sound of her bedroom door being locked, he would come storming through the door. Felicity pulled down her tank top and slipped on her bra, connecting the clasps behind her back.

"I was afraid you might have escaped."

Felicity's eyes widened as she turned around and nearly screamed when she saw him standing there in her bedroom. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest.

"What the fuck!?" she snapped, "What are you doing!?"

Slade ignored her as he looked around her bedroom. "I'm becoming impatient. Besides, it's not like I haven't seen a woman's breast before, Miss Smoak."

"I don't care if you've seen your mother's vagina! You can't just enter my room like that!" she snapped angrily though she was more surprised than angry. Surprised that Slade entered her room without making any noise. When Slade didn't move, Felicity marched over to him and tried pushing him out of her bedroom. "Get out of my room!"

Chuckling in amusement, Slade walked out of her bedroom.

Felicity place a hand to her forehead, taking deep breaths. Slade just entered her room and saw her in her bra. That was invasive and made her feel violated. If she wore a bikini at the beach, she wouldn't mind men staring at her body because she was giving consent of looking. But if she was in her bedroom putting on a bra in private, it was because she didn't want anyone seeing her, especially when she was halfway putting on her bra. She did not give Slade any consent to enter her room while she was putting on a bra. What Slade did was invasive and disrespectful.

Once she had her tank top back in place, she left her bedroom and went back to the living room where Slade remained sitting on the couch.

She pointed a finger at him. "You...will _never_ do that again. Ever."

"Unless I feel like it," he said.

"No, absolutely not!" she snapped. "That was my room. My privacy. And you invaded it. That is not okay! Whatever the hell is you want to tell me, tell me now and get your ass out of my house."

Slade shook his head in disappointment. "Temper, Miss Smoak. I rather if you don't test my patience. You wouldn't want me to paint the walls of your lovely home with the cat's blood now do you?"

"...You're so leaving after this," she said.

Felicity sat on the opposite side with her knees up to her chest, practically shielding herself from him even though he wasn't really looking at her chest. He was grabbing the TV remote and turned on the television. "What channel is the news?"

"Channel 4. Can you pass me my jacket?" she asked. Her red jacket was on the coffee table. "I feel violated."

"It's a bit warm in here, is it not?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah, but technically, I'm not properly dressed and I already had _someone_ see me half naked," she hissed. Slade chuckled at her response before handing over the red jacket to her. Felicity quickly put it on.

"Have you watched the news this morning?" he asked.

"...I haven't even looked at a cup of coffee yet."

Slade was looking up and down at her again before he turned his attention to the television. Felicity really wished he would stop looking at her like that. Rusty jumped onto her lap and rubbed his head against her chin and Felicity petted him in return.

The television was on Channel 4. The news. A woman with red hair speaking through the TV in front of QC. A reporter. Reporters were sometimes liars to the public media. When they can't get a good story, they just have to make up their own which is kind of stupid and it can risk getting lawsuits on them. The CEO's have accepted Slade's offer and decided to invest on Queens Consolidated. _Oh my God. He did it. Slade actually did it. He actually got what he wanted._

"Impressive, isn't it?" Slade smiled amusingly at Felicity's shocked face as he turned off the TV. Felicity caught a glimpse of Oliver coming out of the building with photographs taking pictures of him and reporters harassing him about how he felt about Slade's decision of selling the company to separate investors. He didn't respond but Felicity could tell he was not happy about this.

"Your scheme actually worked," Felicity said in utter shock. "...Why did you come here? Not that I don't want you here. Well, technically, yeah I don't want you here, at all. So, why are you here? What do you want with me? Do you want me to congratulate you on your plans of taking the Queen's company because I'll assure you I won't, not even if you torture me to death, which I hope you don't do to me right now."

Slade chuckled. That made her nervous. And it was kind of scary since she lived by myself and the only thing Felicity had to defend herself with was Rusty. _What am I going to do? Throw the cat at his face? Nah. That will just make him angrier._

"I came here to see if you were feeling better," he said. Felicity frowned at him.

"Why?"

"You took a very bad injury yesterday at Queens Consolidated," he said, "I came here to make sure you were feeling all right."

"Why should you care? I mean, I work for Oliver who's also the Arrow. I think you already know that right now. Technically, everyone associated or related to Oliver Queen is an enemy to you."

He chuckled again. _Why does he find me amusing?_ "You are a very smart girl. No wonder Oliver keeps you around. I was warned that you spoke too much but I never expected a chatterbox."

"Is that bad?" Felicity asked. She didn't know people were complaining about her talking too much. _I think I know why my teachers used to send me to the corner of the classroom in kindergarten. They must have thought I was bothering the entire classroom with my constant chatter._ But was it really that annoying to everyone, including Oliver?

"Some people simply do not have the patience to put up with your chatter," he said. The way he said it made Felicity feel offended. Putting Rusty down on the floor, she got up from the couch and headed for the kitchen. The soup was already boiling on the stove. Besides, she wanted to keep a good distance from Slade as much as possible.

"The cat seems to like you, Miss Smoak," he said.

Felicity didn't respond to him. She ignored him and turned off the stove. He should know that the cat liked her more than he liked his owner.

"Miss Smoak," he called her.

"I thought you didn't have the patience to put up with my talkative self, so, I decide not to speak till you leave," Felicity said sternly.

"Have I offended you, Miss Smoak?" he asked.

"Jeez, what do you think? You know, this is the second time you asked me that when you already know the damn answer to it. You just called me a non-stop chatterbox," She said sternly, turning to face him. She realized he was standing a bit too near the kitchen. He could easily grab the knives to kill her. _Why isn't he making a move then?_ "...Believe me, Rusty likes me more than he likes Mrs. Fernandez. I don't overfeed him nor do I give him baths."

"Does your neighbor overfeed him?" he asks.

"More than five times a day," Felicity told him, "She also gives him too many baths. Mrs. Fernandez has Alzheimer. She can't really remember the things she does. Every time she gives him another meal he already ate, he would hiss at her or simply hides from her."

"Interesting. Would you be placing her in a home then?"

"I am not responsible for what happens to her to be honest. I mean, she has a son. Both of them are owners of the building and he should be the one responsible for his mother and her illness."

 _Why can't you just leave? I have bigger problems right now_. She had to go to the police soon and report that her father was in Starling City. She didn't want to deal with Slade right now. _Two men harassing me. Not good_.

Felicity tried to ignore him and open up some distance but he kept getting closer which was annoying the hell out of her, staring at her intently. But what made her go on red alert was when she felt a hand brush her blonde hair and Slade asked why she had bruises around her neck. Felicity quickly grabbed one of the knives in her hand again and turned to face him, aiming it at his chest. She didn't care if it wouldn't kill him.

"Back off...please," she said to him, almost begging and her voice shaking. He grasped the blade in his hand, twisting and bending it. The sharp edged blade sliced through his flesh and blood began to seep from the wounds. Felicity tried to keep a good hold at the handle but he was too strong and he managed to wrench the knife from her hand and throw it away.

Felicity glanced at the door that was clearly unlocked and she quickly bolted away from the kitchen. She tried to run as fast as she could but her speed was no match for his. He grabbed her by the upper arm and slammed her against the wall. Felicity cried out as he held her there, his fingers digging into her skin. That hurt like hell. _Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream_.

"You're hurting me," she repeatedly, "You're hurting me. Please."

He smirked. "Maybe that's my intention."

"Are you going to kill me now?"

Slade kept staring at her. Felicity was shaking, for the fear of being strangled, adding more bruises to her already bruised neck. She didn't mind though. She would sacrifice her life for Oliver and the others. But simply the idea of being killed so brutally made her want to cry.

"Did you do this to yourself?" he asked, his fingers tracing the bruised skin.

"No," Felicity said, failing to keep her voice from shaking.

"Who did then?"

"I―I don't know. I found them after I took a shower...Please, don't tell anyone. And if you're going to kill me now, get it over with."

"I'm not going to kill you, not yet," he said, "There are few things that need to be adjusted first."

"What adjustments?" she asked. She didn't understand. And this caused him to chuckle again.

Slade smirked as he inched his face towards her. Felicity immediately turned her head flinching. "You'll seen soon enough, love." His hold tightened around her arm. She whimpered in pain and fear. "Don't worry. It will only hurt...a lot. But it will be over before you know it." He said this while tucking his hand beneath her pajama pants and began to tug them down. Felicity knew what Slade was planning to do while at her apartment and she immediately shut her eyes tightly, waiting desperately for him to get it over with.

They heard a knock on the door. It must be Mrs. Fernandez asking for her cat again. Rusty's right here so I can use him as an excuse to get away from Slade. Felicity looked at Slade in warning. _Would he kill me if I tried to answer the door?_

He nodded in approval and he released her. She could tell he was a bit disappointed over the interruption. _Thank God_.

"I'm guessing Mrs. Fernandez would like her cat back," he said.

Felicity walked over to the front door and opened it but the person at the door was not Mrs. Fernandez.

She squealed in delight and embraced Felicity tightly. She squealed in shock. "I'm so happy to see you! Oh, my beautiful girl!" she squealed. _Oh my God. Donna_.

"Your neighbors seem very friendly, Miss Smoak," Slade complimented almost mockingly.

"Mom?" Felicity squeaked. And Slade's eye widened in surprise.

Felicity was not surprise. Donna always appeared without calling first. You could never know when she would show up. She was wearing her blue cocktail dress with her breasts lifted up and her skirt at mid-thigh. _Oh my God. Why is she dressed this way? Didn't I tell her to dress more appropriate when she comes here?_ _Also, what is she doing here? Why can't she call like a normal person? And the fact that there's a psycho here in my apartment, so...This is certainly not my day, now is it?_

"Mom...what are you doing here?" Felicity asked and Donna released her.

"I came to see you, for a visit" Donna smiled before taking out her iPhone from her purse. "Didn't you get my text?" She showed Felicity the text. One problem. She never actually sent it. The message was still on edit.

"Mom, for you to send a text message, you have to press SEND, on the text," she said.

"Oh. No problem. I'll do it right now." she says. Donna pressed the SEND button and Felicity's phone made a _ding_ sound. Donna entered the apartment with her luggage.

Donna didn't notice her injuries until now.

"Oh my God, Felicity, what happened to your face? Oh my God, and your neck!" she gasped in shock as she examined it, turning Felicity's face here and there in her hands.

"It's nothing, Mom," she lie to her, "I'm fine. It was just a small accident."

"You look like you got hit by a bus."

"Bus. Car. Truck. A lot of things. Unfortunately, what hit me was a wall," I tell her.

"And a bunch of windows," Slade intruded in the conversation. _Did I say he could talk? No_. He had no right to talk. That's when Donna noticed him. _Oh God no. Please, earth swallow me whole now._

"Oh, and who is this?" Donna asked as she looked up and down at Slade. No matter how handsome Slade was, Donna would always find a physical flaw that will supposedly determine if that person is good or bad, not that I think he's handsome. Like for example, the eye-patch. Donna is probably assuming him as a pirate or some soap opera villain. If only she knew he's no soap opera villain. "Is he your boyfriend? I didn't know you had someone staying over."

"What? No, no, no, no, no," Felicity stammered, "He's not my boyfriend...I mean, he's not staying over...I mean, we're not...This my boss."

"I'm Slade Wilson," he introduced himself, taking Donna's hand into his. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Donna Smoak," she introduced herself. "Likewise...Oh my God. You're Slade Wilson. You're the new CEO of Queens Consolidated. I've seen you on the news with Oliver Queen. See, Felicity complains that I don't pay attention to her job. "

"It's funny. Miss Smoak's expedient never mentioned she had a mother."

"Well, I'm her aunt, actually. Her mother was my sister. She died when Felicity was four years old. She always calls me _Mom_ since I practically raised her."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

 _Okay...this is way too far._

"Okay...I think it's time for you to go now, Mr. Wilson. Thank you for stopping by." Felicity guided him to the front door, almost pushing him out.

"We still need to talk business at QC, Miss Smoak," he said calmly as she pushed him out the doorway.

"Yeah, you said it. At QC. Goodbye, Mr. Wilson. I'll be very busy..." And she closed the door and put her back against it, "...planning my funeral after dying from embarrassment."

Felicity and Donna sat on the sofa. They were watching _Big Bang Theory_ and laughing out loud. Donna served the soup Felicity made. She didn't want her doing so much labor after her injury. _I think that's why she came here to Starling City. Some bigmouth told her about the incident at QC and he came here to make sure I was okay_. Donna Smoak. _When she hears that someone tries to hurt her kids, she'll let out Momma Bear in ten seconds flat_. Like the time some diva girls at her high school pushed her down outside the premise. Donna saw everything when she came to pick her up and gave the girl a good smack in the face. Of course, Donna got banned from the school premises. She's been with Felicity for so many years. She even had to put up with the idea of Felicity wanting to go the MIT University where she got 4.0 GPA. One of my biggest fears was ending up like a cocktail waitress like her mother or Donna, so, the many years of headaches in MIT were worth it.

"So, what happened to your face? And the bruises on your neck" Donna suddenly asked the same question again.

"It was nothing, Mom. I just my face with the wall."

"Yeah right, like I haven't heard that one before. Tell me, was it him?"

"Who was?"

"The guy that was here this morning, with the eye-patch. Mr. Wilson."

"What? No, Mom. He didn't hurt me. He didn't even touch me." Felicity lied. If Donna didn't knock on the door, Slade would have gone too far. Slade Wilson was capable of murder. But if he wanted to kill her, he could and he would have just a few minutes ago. Of course, he had another idea in mind and Felicity was glad it was interrupted. But she knew that the incident at Queens Consolidated was not his doing.

"Sweetie, I need you to tell me the truth," she insisted, "We don't have to call the police if you don't want to. Just tell me the truth. Because if I find out this guy has been hurting my baby, I'll be going full Momma Bear on him."

Felicity didn't want that. _Never mess with a guy full on Mirakuru._

"Mom, I promise you. Mr. Wilson didn't hurt me. This happened at Queens Consolidated but he didn't lay a hand on me. I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"...Can't you tell me?"

Felicity sighed. She didn't want to tell Donna about the nightmares that caused to physical harm herself but she didn't have choice. She couldn't lie to her. Donna was practically her mother.

"I fell asleep on the job. I suddenly began to have these nightmares where my mother died. I saw her dead on the floor and then I myself as a little girl. She kept saying 'Mommy is dead' and that 'He killed Mommy. Then we heard footsteps. We both ran up to my old bedroom where we hid inside the closet. But whoever it was. He grabbed me and began smashing me against the walls. When I woke up, I was lying on the floor with a broken nose. I had smashed my face against the windows. Oliver Queen had to slap me to wake me up."

Donna stared at her in shock.

"Oh my God, Felicity."

"Is it supposed to mean something? Dreams always mean something. I don't remember what happened to my mother," Felicity was tearing up, "I simply saw her wrists slit open. I did not see anything else. Mom, if you saw something I didn't see, I'd like to know because I can't sleep just thinking about."

"I don't know, baby," she said and embraced her, "I wasn't there when it happened. I wish I had."

"There's something else, Mom. When I was being attack, I heard Colton's voice yelling at me. He was saying that if he can't have me, no one can."

The name of Felicity's father made Donna's blood run cold. She had every right to be afraid of Colton. He was dangerous. That's why Felicity left Big Belly Burgers as fast as possible, knowing that every second they spent alone would be painful. If Donna found out that Colton's here in Starling City, she would want Felicity to leave and go back with her in Nevada where they would report him for violating the restraining order. But Felicity didn't want to leave. Starling City. It was my home. She already had a life here and didn't want Colton's arrival ruining it for her.

"Mom, could it be possible that Colton killed my mother and she didn't kill herself?" she asked.

"...I don't know."

They both heard a phone buzzing on the coffee table. Felicity picked it and took a look. It's Sara. She needed Felicity at the Clock Tower ASAP. She needed to get dressed then.

"Oh, Mom, I need to go somewhere," Felicity ran to her bedroom to get dressed. Unfortunately, Donna was trying to stop her.

"But I just got here. Besides, aren't you injured?"

"Mom, please, it's just a broken nose," Felicity said, "Oliver was just being over-dramatic. He was even going to send me to a hospital. I'm not invalid. And don't worry. After I'm out, I'm all yours. We can go to the movies. Hang out and do girls stuff. Right now, I really have to go."

Felicity dressed herself in a white V-neck blouse, black pencil skirt and her red jacket. She brushed her hair and tied it in her usual ponytail and put her glasses on.

"Are you staying here?"

"Actually, I already a hotel room. I came here to stop by."

 _Really? That's odd, even for her._

"But you know, I came here to visit," she said before giving Felicity a kiss on the cheek.

"Okay, well, if you're staying here for a little while, please remember to lock up when you leave. I don't want you leaving the door open like last time you came here," Felicity warned her.

"Sorry I left the door open when I left."

"You let a deer in and I had to call animal control to drag it out of here. It ate the sheets from my bed."

"Hey, that was a one-time thing," she giggled.

"Lock up, please," Felicity said before leaving the apartment. She was a bit concerned about leaving Donna alone. Slade already knew she had a family member and he might plan to use her against her. She needed to warn Oliver. Also, there's the fact that my father is here in Starling City. He could easily hurt her. Felicity couldn't stay silent for long.


	5. Chapter 5: Shocked

Chapter 5: Shocked.

I arrived at the Verdant, earning an embrace from Sara but a few disapproving looks from Oliver and Diggle. Roy's not here yet. He's probably still angry about having being forced to break up with Thea. Not one of the greatest ideas for Ollie. He should know better than forcing Roy to break up with the person he loves while still having the Mirakuru inside. Caitlin and Cisco are still analyzing the chemicals of the serum. Roy is a good boy. He didn't deserve that. Not to mention the fact that it caused Thea to get captured by Slade to scare the shit out of Oliver.

"You should be at home resting, Felicity," Oliver said with his arms crossed.

"Sara called me," I said, pointing at her. She gave me a _traitor_ look and Oliver glared at her.

"What? You guys think you can do this all by yourself?" she said, "Dream on."

"Oliver's right," Diggle said, "Felicity, you should be home resting."

"Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen. If you want to shoot an arrow at my foot, you can shoot an arrow at my foot but that's not going to stop from working," I say as I walk pass between the two boys. "Also, Slade came into my apartment this morning."

"HE WHAT!?" Oliver shouted angrily. Diggle and Sara were definitely in shock when I said this. Oliver was furious.

"He was at my apartment this morning. He knocked on the door. I opened up. When I saw him, I tried to close the door but he already made his way in. He was holding my neighbor's cat," I tell them. We were walking down the steps to the basement where our headquarters is. They keep hovering like vultures.

"Did he hurt you?" Sara asked.

That's a stupid question. Do I look like I'm hurt? Am I missing body parts? No.

"No," I told her, "He just stopped by to gloat about how he was able to sell your company to other investors."

"I hate that guy," Oliver growled.

"Don't worry, Ollie," Sara assured him, "Things are going to turn up all right."

"Will it? Roy's gone, Sara. Thea doesn't even want to talk to me. I lost my house. I lost the company. And now my mother's dead," he ranted. You're not the only one who has problems, Ollie. "I don't see how it's going to turn out all right."

"It could have been a lot worse, Oliver," I tell him. I sit down on the chair in front of the computers and turn on the systems. "A lot worse."

If only he knew what I've been through over the past 24 years. My parents' fights. My father's abusive beating towards my mother. My mother committing suicide which I am now doubting it's a suicide. Cooper and his death. And now my father is back. He has been hunting me down for who knows how long? And for what? So he can hurt me again like he did to my mother? I don't know what he wants. But I sure would hate to find out what.

I told the guys about my aunt Donna visiting as well. They were a bit surprise to know I even had a family member. Well, I didn't actually tell them that she was my aunt. I told them that she was my mom which is almost true. She raised me better than my real mother would.

Tonight's mission: William Tockman. He is now known as the Clock King, another codename created by my fellow friend Cisco which he is so good at. He named Barry Allen the Flash when he became a vigilante with super speed after getting struck by lightning. He also came up with other names like Heatwave and Captain Cold. If he tries to come up with codenames for me or Diggle, I'm putting a tape in his mouth. Sorry, Cisco, nothing personal.

I told them William Tockman was located at the abandoned church just a few minutes away from the city. What's with bad guys and abandoned places? That's a little bit cliché for my taste. And why abandoned? Those places don't even have any electricity for their electronics to work. Oh, and how are they going to operate their weapons? Energy from the sun? Are they going to have some big solar system up on the roof? Get real.

Oliver already suited up in his green Arrow suit. I think he should be called Green Arrow instead of simply being called the Arrow. It sounds better. Unfortunately, Oliver thinks its lame. Hmm. How about this? You're lame.

Sara also suited up in her Canary costume. The black suit, mask and blonde wig. I don't get. What's with the wig? She's already blonde enough. Let alone having a wig that will make your head go itchy every time you sweat. Hey, that reminds me…

"Oh, Sara, come here. I need you to look at something," I called out and she came over to me as soon as possible.

I showed her one of the devices she uses to make her sonic screams, one of the reasons why she's called the Canary. A small metal ball that cause that sonic scream.

"I've been making a few modifications to the device," I told her, showing the little…ball thing. I don't know what to call it. Sonic device? I'll leave the names to Cisco. "The device will create sonic screams that will reach at least two miles away. It's louder and more powerful than ever."

Sara took the ball in her hands and examined it.

"Should I try it now?"

"No! No, not here. Do you want Verdant to blow up?" I snatched the device from her hand and put it back on the table where I connected it to the computer. It still needs a few tweaks. That's why I don't want her using it. Also, I don't want her to destroy my precious computers if that thing goes off. "Well test, far away from the city."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged her shoulders, "Hey, maybe after we take down the Clock King, you and I can hang out with your Mom, if that's all right with you."

"Yeah, sure, I don't mind. That'll be great." I need someone to help me with Donna. And Sara is just the person I need, unless both of them are going to embarrass me in public.

"So, what's Tockman up to this time?" Diggle asked.

"William Tockman is planning to rob millions from the Starling City Bank before transferring it to Bruce Wayne's account to put the blame on him. It's pretty obvious since Bruce Wayne is a billionaire."

"How is he planning on robbing a back when he's at least a mile away from the city?" Oliver asked.

"Have you ever heard of computers, Oliver?" I asked sarcastically, "Tockman can hack into any computer system and almost break into any firewall. He'll figure out how to break through the security codes in ten seconds flat. You might want to get going."

* * *

Third Person's POV

"Rachel, what are you doing?" the caretaker asked the little girl who was sitting alone in one of the bunk beds in the empty room. The rest of the children were playing outside. This little girl in particular stayed indoors. She was drawing on a piece of paper with a black crayon.

The little girl is only six years of age with dark brown hair (almost black), pale small-featured face and ice blue eyes. She was drawing a black bird on her piece of paper which worried the caretaker a bit. She is always drawing the same thing over and over again, and even posted them up on the wall.

"Drawing," Rachel responded without looking up at the caretaker.

"A bird again? Wouldn't you like to draw something else like a butterfly or a tree?" she asked kindly but inside she was deeply concerned of Rachel's behavior. She has been this way even before the police found her alone in an alleyway in Central City. She had been sitting on a dumpster with a raven bird on her lap. Those were the only things she kept drawing ever since she was brought into the orphanage.

Rachel Roth has always been different from the rest of the children. She never played with them nor has she ever spoken to them. She always sat alone reading and drawing, never really interacting with anyone here except for one particular person. And that one particular person is the only one Rachel had ever felt happy being with, always felt happy. But she was not here today.

"It's a raven," she said to the caretaker, "And no thank you."

"Would you like to play with the other kids instead?" she asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"No thank you."

"Would you like something to eat?"

"No thank you."

"…Would you like to see Miss Smoak?"

With that question, Rachel stopped drawing and looked up at the caretaker. The poor child always looks sick and fragile and yet she is quite stubborn for her age.

"Yes…but she's not coming tomorrow like she said she would," she said and continued to draw her bird, pressing the black crayon hard against the white sheet.

"Of course she is," the caretaker assured her, petting her head, "She always kept her promise. She said she would take you out for a hamburger tomorrow."

"She did…but she won't be coming tomorrow."

"And why not?"

"Because Felly's going to be sick tomorrow," she said almost sorrowfully. She took the piece of paper in her hands and tore it in half.

* * *

Felicity Smoak's POV

Oliver and Sarah left Verdant, leaving me alone with Diggle. Oh boy. He'll go all Daddy Dearest on me again like he did last time I confronted William Tockman. He was worried I would get hurt. Now he's even more worried about me after what happened yesterday at Queens Consolidated. I'm fine. He should know that I'm not made of glass. I'm just a bit jumpy and nothing more. With the nightmares, my father's arrival, Donna's arrival and Slade appearing in my apartment out of the blue. My nerves are going through the roof right now. The slightest sound could send me up the ceiling like a cat. Hmm. I finally know how Jerome felt every time I snuck up behind him.

Jerome Valeska is an old friend of mine. We met in middle school. We were friends. His mother forced him to drop out of school since she was going to work at a circus in Gotham. Unfortunately, things did not go well for Jerome as I thought. I don't know what happened to him. Last time I heard of him, he murdered his mother, went through psychotic breakdown and is now in Arkham Asylum. I guess it's true what they say. Monsters create more monsters. But Jerome was never a monster. I always thought he was a nice guy. He just reached his limits of what he would tolerate of his mother. It does not justify what he did though. I decided to visit him one day but not today. My schedule is already booked.

"So, what's up with you?" Diggle suddenly asks me and I jump. Argh. I wish they'd stop doing that.

"Um, nothing," I told him.

"Slade entering your apartment sure doesn't look like nothing," he said with his arms crossed. "Did he do something to you?"

"No, not really. He simply just came into my apartment and was gloating about how he managed to sell out the company. I think he just wanted to scare me, that's all."

"I hope you're right. Remember Felicity, Slade's dangerous. We don't know when the time he's going to beat the living shit out of us."

"I know. But I think I can take care of myself. If Slade wanted to kill me, I wouldn't be here right. And he _can_ kill me."

"We just want to make sure you're all," he kept saying.

"Listen, I know you guys want to look after me but I don't need to. I'm not made of glass. I'm not so weak as people think I am."

"Of course you're not. After what happened last time with Tockman, I doubt anyone would think you weak," he said.

"Yep. I'm the bitch with Wi-Fi." And we both just laughed.

Then, we got back to the Tockman business

"Okay, Oliver and Sara found William Tockman's hideout. They'll do the capture. All I have to do is disable his computer systems. That way, he won't be able to hack into Starling City Bank. I hope he does not make my computer kill itself again. I'll be bitching up about it for a whole month.

"Ah, but don't worry, Miss Smoak," we hear Tockman's voice through the computer system. Ah, shit. He hacked through the firewall again. I got to invent a new one for this thing. Even the newest anti-virus is shitty these days. "Your computer won't be killing itself this time, Miss Smoak."

William Tockman. I don't know if he was a professor or something but he has a big obsession for clocks, watches and timing. I think that's why Cisco named him the Clock King. He was sick with MacGregor's Syndrome. But he wasn't stealing the money for himself. He was doing it for his sister. She's still in medical treatment. She has cystic fibrosis. I feel bad for her. I understand Tockman's good intentions. But stealing is still stealing. We could help him if he'd let us.

"You're going to have to surrender, Tockman. It's over. The Arrow and the Canary are already on their way," I spoke as I kept typing on the keyboard, trying to put up a new firewall but I don't think I'm moving fast enough. "If you turn yourself in, we might be able help you with your illness and the same thing goes for your sister."

"My sister is already dead." We heard say. I look at Diggle. He knew. Why the hell am I always the last person to know about this? "She's dead because of you and the Arrow. If it hadn't been for you assholes, she would still be alive. You all killed my sister. And now you're all going to pay, starting with you Felicity Smoak."

Before I could do anything, my computers exploded and I was sent flying back, my body crashing into one of the glass cases. The sonic device had gone off as well and it made a very deafening screech. My body was shaking and convulsing after the electrical surge that went through my bloodstream. The last few things that I remember was that one hand was on the computer monitor while the other one was on the sonic device which was also connected to the computer. I should not have done that. And Diggle kept yelling my name. Those are one of the last things I remember before I blacked out. "It's all right, Felly. Everything's going to be all right," my mother's last words spoken in my head. I doubt it.

 **Okay, guys, Chapter 5 is done. Please leave a comment if you like and tell me if you enjoyed the story. A lot of interesting things will be happening to Felicity Smoak in this story. I wanted to do something different in this story since the whole Olicity stuff is beyond overused right now. You'll be seeing a lot of freaky stuff with Felicity's father, with Rachel Roth, and of course with Deathstroke as well as the main character. As for the characters that need to die in this story. Please leave a name of who do you think needs to die in this story, not that I want anyone to die in the story, but it would make the story interested if someone died in this story. Thank you very much.**


	6. Chapter 6: Live or Die (Part 1)

Chapter 6: Live or Die (Part 1)

 **Hey, everyone. So, first person's POV is not working out as I hoped. So, I'm going for the third person's POV so you can see what's happening with the other characters.**

* * *

Third Person's POV

"What happened to her!?" one of the paramedics asked when they got to the hospital, dragging and unconscious Felicity Smoak through the sliding doors and down the white tiled hallway.

Felicity lay on the rolling bed, connected to VI, a Babylog 8000 ventilator and a heart rate monitor. Diggle had accompanied the paramedics to the hospital after making the 9-1-1 call. There was no way in hell he was leaving her alone after what happened at Verdant. He didn't say what happened. He did not mention William Tockman. He simply mentioned that she got electrocuted after the computers exploded in her face. She had slight burns and bruises on her face and neck and hairs had fallen from her ponytail. One of the paramedics had to remove her glasses. They were already cracked.

"Move, get out of the way," they kept saying as they kept running to the ER.

"Is she going to be okay?" Diggle asked in panic. He wanted to go to the ER but the nurses in blue uniforms and the paramedics would not allow him.

They carried Felicity's limp form from the rolling bed and placed her on another hospital. They hurried removing her red jacket and white blouse. She ended up only in her bra and black pencil skirt.

"We can't have you here, sir!" a nurse with green eyes said.

"Nurse, her heart rate is going critical! We need to keep her from going into cardio arrest!" a male nurse called out.

Unfortunately for Diggle, he was forced to stay out of the ER and stay put in the waiting room. His knees were shaking desperately. He called Oliver and Sara about the incident that just happened. They would be on their way after they too William Tockman to jail for attempt of robbery and attempt of murder. _I hope they hurry_ , Diggle thought. The nurses have already drawn the curtains. He couldn't see what they were doing with Felicity. She could be dying and he's sitting around doing nothing to help her. _Please God, don't let her die_. He kept begging for her to live. He called Lila and said he would be late. An Arrow Emergency, he told her.

A few minutes later, Oliver and Sara arrived at the hospital. They changed back into civilian clothes on the way. Oliver was in jeans, grey shirt and green jacket while Sara was in jeans and black sweater. They looked around worriedly until they spotted Diggle sitting slouched in the waiting room. They came here as fast as they could after they dropped off Tockman to the police station.

"What happened? Where's Felicity?" Oliver asked panting. Either they came running or they were just really tired from the fight with William Tockman. Either way, Diggle was more than happy to see them here.

"She's in the ER, man. She got hurt really badly. Tockman electrocuted her by making the computers explode. She lost consciousness after crashing into the glass cases."

"How is she?" Sara asked with concern. Sara had already considered Felicity as her little sister besides Sin.

"They didn't say," Diggle explained. "The only thing I heard is that Felicity's heart rate was going critical. They won't let me get close to her."

"This can't be happening," Oliver groaned in frustration, running a hand over his face.

"We need to call her mother," Sara said, her voice was shaking in fear. "She needs to know what's happening to Felicity."

"Do you really have her mother's phone number?" Diggle asked grumpily and sarcastically.

"Well, just like Felicity, I happen to a hacker too, you know," Sara hissed at him.

"Guys, that's enough. This is Felicity we're talking about now," Oliver got between them to avoid an argument though they weren't really going to argue. They were all stressed out over their IT girl's condition right now. "Sara, try to locate Felicity's mother and hurry. We don't have much time."

Sara sat down and began to search on her Q-Pad for Felicity's mother's name and phone number. It wasn't long until she found it and dialed the number.

* * *

Donna was staying at a very nice motel in Starling City. It wasn't a Five Star grand hotel she had always wished for but at least it wasn't one of those cheap damaged motel she once stayed in Las Vegas with peeling walls, lights flickering, brown watering, rats coming out from beneath the floorboards or couples banging each other in the next room. This one was decent and warm-looking.

She watched _Judge Judy_ on the television. This place had cable, one of the things her last motel lacked. She liked watching _Judge Judy_. She wanted to be a lawyer when she was of young age before her misfortunate fate of becoming a cocktail waitress at a bar and a strip club. It was also something she didn't want her niece Felicity inheriting. She was glad that Felicity decided to study at the MIT. She didn't want her suffering the same fate she and her sister did. _Oh, Evelyn, if only you could see how happy Felicity is now._

Felicity was so small when her mother died. She was not afraid when the police found her standing next to her mother's corpse. She didn't even cry at the funeral or the burial. She simply threw dirt at the coffin before going back to Donna's car, waiting for her.

If only she could tell the truth about what happened to her mother. Felicity was only four. She'll probably never remember about what happened that day he mother died.

She was worried about her. Felicity was acting different. Well, a bit more different than usual. When she saw her little girl's face all cut and bruised, she went all Momma Mode on her.

She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes, wanting to get some sleep for a while. She had a very long flight and she was exhausted.

But she suddenly felt something slowly grazing her left leg. Something sharp. Nails. She sits up and looks down where she saw hands with sharp nails grazing her leg. She kicked her legs wildly and screamed.

Donna opens her eyes again. She sits wildly and panting from the shock. There was no one in her room. She looks under her bed. Nothing. _Oh my God_ , she thought, it was just a nightmare, a horrible one.

Her cellphone on the nightstand next to her bed began to buzz. Someone was calling her. She looked at the phone number glowing on the screen. UNKNOWN CALLER. She hesitated before answering the phone call.

"Hello?"

" _Hello is this Donna Smoak?_ " a woman spoke on the phone. She sounded anxious.

"Yes. Who is this?"

" _My name is Sara Lance, I'm a friend of your daughter's. Felicity Smoak_ ," she said, " _She's in the hospital right now. She got injured_."

Donna gasps in shock and runs out of her motel room.

* * *

"So, how did it go today with the investors today, Slade?" Isabel asked as she poured herself a glass of red wine. She sat on Slade's desk with her leg crossed over the other. She poured wine in Slade glass. It was Hungarian wine, one of the best and also one of Slade's favourites beside the Australian rum he had brought to Moira Queen once.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was tired. He couldn't stand another moment being with those assholes and he couldn't spend another minute with this bitch. He always had to grin and bear it. The only reason he let her live is because he needed her, and not just in his bed.

"It was fine," he said before taking a sip of the delicious wine that warmed down his throat, "A bit boredom but I am guessing that's what happens when you become CEO, spending your days behind a desk."

"You finally did it," she grinned at him, "You finally took over Queens Consolidated and took everything from Oliver Queen. I bet those 5 years of hard work were worth it."

"Hmm. Indeed," he sighed before taking another sip.

"And having the Mirakuru was useful for something," she said.

"In some parts it does but it does gives some headaches," he said. The way she keeps ranting about the Mirakuru as if it was a good thing was making him feel frustrated and angry. Even if the Mirakuru saved his life, it did not help at all with his lifestyle. It was making him angrier almost every day of his life. The only thing he could do to take that anger out is having sex with Isabel, which did not do any good to be honest. It just made him more hateful and disgusting. Shado would have been so disappointed for being with someone that was not her.

But Slade needed it. He could no longer stand not being next to a woman, even if it was someone he loved or not. He loved Adeline once. He would bring her flowers every day and they had a son named Joseph. But those days were gone when he ended up stranded in Lian Yu. When he returned to Australia, his family had moved on without him. His wife already remarried and thought Slade was dead. As for Joseph, he was only two when Slade was stranded in Lian Yu. He had probably forgotten who his real father is and looked up at his stepfather as the only father figure her would ever had. It broke his heart but he was glad for them. He didn't want them suffering the burden of having an angry ghost wandering in their home like an unwanted guest. He let them move on with their lives and he would move on with his revenge against Oliver Queen for Shado's death.

"So, I heard you paid Felicity Smoak a visit this morning," she said as she lifted her skirt up a bit, showing her thigh to him. He ignored it, much to her disappointment.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked. That name brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality. Somehow hearing her name made him snap, not in a bad kind of way.

"I have ears and they can hear things."

"You hear things you shouldn't hear. To answer your question: yes, I did."

"So, how did she react?" Isabel asked with an evil glint in her eyes. She really hated Felicity Smoak with all her might and yet Slade didn't know why. "Did she scream? Did she beg for her life? What did you do to her? Did you torture her? Did you threaten her? Give me all the details."

"I made no move to attack Miss Smoak nor did I make any death threats towards her. I simply spoke to her about my success of investments upon Queens Consolidated. But she did seem frightened."

"Rubbing it in her face. Although I think it would have been more fun if you broke her arm. They don't call you Deathstroke for nothing."

"I would have if I wanted to. Unfortunately, he mother had made presence before I could do anything," he explains. It was a very dull excuse to make. He only said it to shut her up.

"Hmm. Didn't know Little Blondie McGlasses had a mother," she said before taking another sip of her wine. "So, what are you going to do about it now that you know where she lives?"

"One of my plans of eliminating Oliver Queen from the face of the earth by kidnapping the IT girl and her mother. Tie her up and threaten her mother's life unless Miss Smoak confesses to the entire world who the Arrow is," he said in thought. "Then, we kill them both."

"Sounds like a good plan," she says as she stood up from the desk and wrapped her arms around Slade's waist. Shall we begin?"

"Not tonight."

"What? Slade, we have the perfect opportunity to kill that little bitch ―."

"As far as she is being watched by the Arrow, we cannot strike. She needs to be unwatched for us to strike against her. Patience is everything, Miss Rochev."

"As you say. You're the mastermind of everything." She raised her glass as if making a toast. Slade followed her gesture. "Hmm. You know what? I feel a bit energetic tonight. How about you?"

 _Really? Right now?_ He thought. _In the office?_ Not that the idea was not sexy but Slade thought that this was not the most appropriate place for having sex in Queens Consolidated, knowing that there are guard or employees working late. And he didn't like being caught having sex with his accomplice.

Still, it was tempting for him. He sat down on his chair behind his desk and gestured Isabel to come forward. With a grin on her face, she lifted up her skirt and pulled down her panties. _Why can't she wear shorts under her skirt like most women?_ He asked himself. Felicity Smoak didn't need to walk around in her panties to look attractive. Seeing her in pajamas and with a toothbrush in her hands looked attractive enough.

Isabel sat on his lap, facing him. There was one rule Slade had given her: no kissing on the lips. His lips were not hers to have. They were either Shado's or Adeline's. He didn't want anyone else kissing him if not them. Ironically, he couldn't have any of them. Isabel unbuttoned the first three buttons of his white shirt, revealing the hard wall of muscle, and unzipped his pants, his hard member springing out from its confinements.

"You must realize that if anyone catches us, you die," he says, his voice shaking with need.

Isabel settles down onto his lap, straddling him and his hard member filling her. She moaned in satisfaction as she began to rock her hips bounced up and down on him in quick strokes. He wanted to be satisfied but he also wanted to get this over with quickly. Another rule, Isabel had 5 minutes to get to where he wanted to go. One hand grasped her hip while the other one grasped her shoulders, bringing her down in his thrusts. They managed to maintain as quiet as possible to avoid any ears from listening to them fuck. Slade grunted as she continued to ride him faster. He gritted his teeth and threw his head back in resistance of howling. Isabel kept gasping throughout the entire process.

It has only been three minutes and Slade finally came. Isabel gasped as he shot his seed in her entrance. Luckily, she took anti-pregnancy pills before entering the office, knowing that Slade probably didn't want any children right now. They both panted in exhaustion.

His body was here in the office and giving Isabel pleasure. But his thoughts were on Shado and Adeline and oddly…on Felicity Smoak. He couldn't take her out of his mind. He couldn't stop but simply imagining her naked in his bed, her soft blonde hair between his fingers, her lips quivering as she whimpered, her body shaking in need and fear, her walls tightening around his member, his teeth biting down at her soft flesh, his hands on her breasts and her green-blue eyes looking up at him in fear. He had already thought of doing such monstrosity to her since he found out she worked for the Arrow and to make him suffer. But if she was still a virgin, it was out of the question. He wanted to teach Oliver a lesson, not scar the girl for life. Besides, she was younger than him, a lot younger. Felicity Smoak was almost in his mid-twenties. Slade Wilson was in his mid-forties. It wouldn't be right.

" _This just in: William Tockman had been captured yet again by the Arrow and the Canary after his failed attempt to rob Starling City Bank_ ," a female reporter spoke through the TV. Slade had forgotten he had turned it on. He had heard of William Tockman before. He was nothing but a lowlife maniac robbing banks for his ill sister. " _He was arrested before three more bank robbery and two murders. He will now be transferred to Central City where trial will be set placed_."

"What's wrong with the jail cells we have here in Starling City?" Isabel panted as she got up from Slade lap and pulled down her skirt before going to pick up her panties from the floor.

"It's already filled with crooks and assholes. This city is too full to have another."

" _In other news, a 24-year-old woman named Felicity Megan Smoak is hospitalized in Starling City Hospital after being electrocuted. Doctors do not have any more information except that she is in a very critical state. Back to you, George_ …"

 _Felicity Smoak is in the hospital?_ He thought in surprised as his one eye loomed at the TV, trying to process what he just heard. This surprised him.

"So, the little blonde bitch is in the hospital right now?" she chuckled, "Huh. That's surprising. Want to have a little fun and see her die?"

"No," he said, stuffing himself back into his pants and pulling the zipper. "I have other plans for her. I don't want her to die just yet." The question he has in his head, does he want her to die at all?

* * *

Arkham Asylum, Gotham…

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jerome cooed his audience with a grin on his face as he stood on the lunch table, the rest of the criminally insane staring at him in awe. The guards above held guns, aiming at them just in case something went wrong. The only entertainment they had was the TV and they were already getting bored with the news reports. So, Jerome decided to add a little light to the situation. "Since my mother worked for the circus, I can see that all are in need of entertainment. So, I will now perform a magic trick. First, I would need a volunteer…You, sir!" Jerome pointed at the far end of the lunchroom where a chubby guy with frizzy hair and wild eyes sat. The man grinned and was clapping. He went up to the table where Jerome was. "We have a volunteer! Good gentlemen, grab a knife from your companion's tray. Any tray and sit in front of the person you took the knife from."

The chubby man did exactly what Jerome told him to. He took a knife a bald man's tray and sat on the opposite side of the lunch table in front of him. The bald man growled at him angrily. The chubby man simply laughed as if it was funny.

"Now, my friend, I need you to hold the knife in front of you," he continued saying, "One facing you and the other end facing your friend."

The chubby man did as told. The handle was facing him while the blade was facing the bald man.

"Now, for my first trick, I will make this knife," he continues as he crouches next to the two, "I will make this knife disappear." And he smashed both of his volunteers' heads together and the knife dug into both of their skulls before they collapse dead in the middle of the table, blood oozing from the wound and ears. Everyone in the lunchroom gasped in shock, others clapped while some (who weren't too insane) just screamed in horror. Jerome took a bow. "Ta-da! It's gone! Thank you, thank you!"

"You sick fuck!" One of the guards yelled "Don't move! Stay where you are and get back to your fucking seat!"

"… _In other news, a young 24-year-old woman name Felicity Megan Smoak is hospitalized after being accidently electrocuted this afternoon. Doctors did not say if she will recover. We only know is that she is in very critical condition_ …"

Jerome stared at the television in shock as he heard the newswoman speak out the familiar name. The TV showed a picture of a pretty girl with a blonde ponytail and glasses. She has changed, he realized. She did not look like the same Felicity he met before. She's blonde and she's wearing glasses. Could the years really change a person? _What happened to you Felicity?_ He thought in concern.

* * *

Donna arrived at the hospital as quickly as possible. She stood in the waiting room near the ER where she was greeted a young woman with blonde curly hair and blue eyes.

"Mrs. Smoak, hi, I'm Sara Lance," she said as they both shook hands, "I'm a friend of your daughter's."

"Is my daughter okay?" she asked anxiously. Her hands were shaking terribly.

"We're not exactly sure," a man with green eyes and in his late twenties, "The doctors won't tell us. But she's hurt pretty badly. I'm Oliver Queen."

"What happened?" Donna asked again.

"She was working late and her computer short-circuited," an African American explained. How many friends does Felicity have right now? Donna knows who Oliver Queen is but he had no idea who these people are. "I'm John Diggle. I'm also a friend of Felicity's."

"I just wanted to spend my free time with my daughter, now I have spent them all making sure she doesn't die in a freakin' hospital."

"Felicity's a strong girl. She'll be all right," Sara assured. Donna sniffled as she wiped away here tears.

"I don't want her to die," she whimpered. "I already lost my sister. I can't lose my niece too."

"…What do you mean? You're not her mother?" Oliver asked with a frown on his face. Clearly, Felicity didn't tell them about her real mother.

"I'm her aunt," she tells them, "Her mother died when she was four years old. She committed suicide. I was married to my sister's husband's brother Michael. He died of lung cancer two months ago. And Colton, Felicity's father, he left her after her mother died. Her name was Evelyn Smoak. I'm her aunt but Felicity always thought of me as a mother."

The trio stared at her in shock. This was news to them. If she lives through the night and if she ever wakes up, she'll have a lot of explaining to do.

"How is Miss Smoak doing?"

"You...son of a bitch," Oliver growled in suppressed anger. The others were glaring at Slade. But Donna was not worried about this man being here. She was more worried about her niece's well-being. "You have no business here."

"I came here to express my condolences," he said calmly.

"She's not dead," Diggle said.

"She's not alive either," Slade shrugged his shoulders, "If she survives, do you think she will awake the same again and if she dies, what shall you do without her?"

Oliver nearly lunged at Slade if it wasn't for Diggle to hold him back. This was no time for fighting. The doctor has come and unfortunately, they received the news...Felicity Smoak is in a coma. Who knows when she will awake, if she will awake.

* * *

 _Aunt Donna picked me up from preschool since Mommy was going to work late tonight. I would be sleeping over at her house tonight with her husband Michael, my uncle and my father's brother. But when we got to my mom's house to get my stuff, we both saw my mother was still home and she was also fighting with my father again. They were yelling and throwing things at each other. I look up at my aunt._

 _"_ _Donna, Mommy and Daddy are fighting again," I told her._

 _"_ _I know. Let's go get some ice cream and wait till Mommy and Daddy leave for work."_

 _We left the premises of my home. We went to eat ice cream. I had mint chocolate chip and Donna had strawberry cheesecake. Then I took a long look at a very pretty yellow canary nesting on one of the trees._

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7: Live or Die (Part 2)

Chapter 7: Live or Die (Part 2)

 **Okay, guys, this is where the whole thing begins. Felicity will have to choose whether she lives or dies. If she lives, will she be the same Felicity they know and love? If she dies, what will become of the Arrow Team.**

 **Here I picked** _ **Grey's Anatomy**_ **song:** _ **Sleeping At Last - Saturn**_

* * *

For three days, Felicity Smoak remained in a coma. Three days with no change. Donna remained at her side the entire time as well as Oliver. They would take turns of watching Felicity. Sara would visit and bring flowers. She brought sunflowers. Diggle brought daisies. Lyla brought violets. They even got an anonymous vase of blood red roses which Oliver had checked just in case it had deadly poison. Still, he wanted to throw them away, already knowing from who they were from. The doctors have already taken consideration of disconnecting her, thinking that she might not wake up. But Oliver and Donna refused. They were even pissed off.

She'll wake up. They're sure of it.

* * *

 _Mommy and I sat on the porch. We found a small yellow canary wounded of the ground. It was just a little baby, like me. She placed the little thing in my hands and told me to hold it carefully. It had a broken wing, nothing that we can't fix._

 _"_ _It's pretty," I told her._

 _"_ _Like you," she told me, "you're my little canary."_

 _"_ _Mom, I'm not a canary."_

 _"_ _Why not?"_

 _"_ _Because the canary is yellow and I have black hair," I tell her._

 _"_ _Well, you are my black canary then," she chuckles._

 _I giggle before looking back at the canary in my hands but my smile suddenly faded when I saw that my canary was dead. It had been gutted and smeared in blood with small organs spilling out and maggots and flies already swarming. I gasped and let it go. I turned around to ask my mother what happened to the canary, only to come face to face with my father Colton._

 _I shook in fear as he kept smiling at me, a very sickly sweet smile that I've always hated his smiles._

 _"_ _Where's Mommy?"_

 _"_ _Mommy is not here right now, Felly. It's just you and me." He held a bloody butcher knife in his hands. Behind him, there was my mother's dead body lying on the porch, her stomach gutted. And I screamed._

* * *

The orphanage was very quiet tonight. All the children slept in their rooms while the moon shined through their windows. The caretakers also slept when they suddenly heard a shilling scream. Darcy, the head caretaker, rushed to one of the bedrooms where the screams came from. When she entered, she saw many of the children surrounding Rachel Roth's bed, watching in shock and horror as the little girl kept screaming.

"Move. Move," she demamded as she pushed the rest out of the way and tried to calm Rachel down. She kept screaming at the same time shaking her head sideways and slapping herself in the face. Her screams were none-human and piercing. It was enough to wake the dead. "Rachel, please calm down! Rachel!"

* * *

Oliver called the doctors and nurses for help when he saw Felicity convulsing on the hospital bed, throwing herself back and forth against the bed and her hair waving wildly. Diggle had to hold her down keep her from hurting herself. Her heart was becoming critical again. Once they entered the room, they asked Oliver, Sara, Diggle and Donna to leave. They refused to leave but they were already pushed out.

Donna sobbed desperately. "Oh, my baby girl!"

Oliver rubbed his face in frustration. _This is my fault_ , he thought. I shouldn't have left her in the mission in the first place.

"What are we gonna do?" Diggle asked.

They all suddenly noticed Donna kneeling on her knees in front of a chair with her hand clasped together and she began to mutter out words.

"Lord of heaven protects her. Holy Father and Jesus please save her."

"I think there's only one thing we _can_ do," Sara was suggesting, taking her hands out from her pockets. "Pray."

"I don't see how praying is going to help, Sara," Oliver said.

"She's praying," she pointed out, "Why shouldn't we?"

"Do you even know how to pray?' Diggle asked.

"I saw it on TV," she said, "It wouldn't hurt if we tried."

Oliver sighed in frustration. "Fine."

The trio joined in a small prayer room where they joined in a circle and held hands, and they began to pray for Felicity. "God, please save Felicity from death," Sara began.

"We may not know you and perhaps we may not deserve your help," Oliver said.

"But we love Felicity Smoak. She is our friend and our family," Diggle said

"She is full of kindness, wisdom and courage…"

"And we ask of you to protect her at any costs…"

"May she be healthy again so she may be with us once more…"

"And if she dies…"

"Please send her to a place of peace and no darkness."

"Because without Felicity…"

"What will become of us?"

* * *

 _I kept running down the hallway, trying to get to my room so I can hide under my bed as quickly as possible. The only place I thought I would be safe from my father who was chasing me inside the house. He's going to hurt me. I know he is. He's going to hurt me like he hurt Mom. He was holding a bloody knife. I need to leave. Where's Donna? Where's Sara? Where's Diggle? Where's Oliver? Where's Slade? Where are the people that can protect me? I was running for my life with no one I love to protect me. I was on my own._

 _"_ _Felicity! Felicity! Come back here you little bitch!" he called out angrily. He only called me by my first name when he's really pissed off which he is right now. But as I kept going near my room, the hallway became longer and longer to the point where no matter how hard I try to run away from my father, I can't escape him._

 _I see my younger version standing right there in the middle of the doorway, stretching out her hand and urging me to hurry up and to run faster. I'm trying. I can't run too fast. I'm hyperventilating._

 _"_ _Come on, hurry! Don't let him get you!"_

 _I can't let him get me. If he does, I'll be dead for sure._

 _I reached to grab the little girl's hand and to my surprise, I caught it and I was pulled into the room. But I wasn't in my room, I was in the kitchen where Mom died. There she was. In the same position she was years ago with her wrists open as well as her throat, which I recently discovered from my first nightmare._

 _"_ _Mommy's dead."_

 _I turn around to find my younger version standing there right behind me, glaring at me. She did not seem happy to see me._

 _I kneeled in front of her and grab her by the shoulders._

 _"_ _Felly, listen to me," I told her, "You know who killed your mother but you need to tell me. Who killed her?"_

 _"_ _You killed Mommy," she snapped at me, her voice suddenly changing into something deeper and darker, almost demonic. "You pathetic little bitch! You let Mommy die!"_

 _I look at my hands. They were still covered in blood but that was from the dead canary I carried. Was it? No. It can't be true. I couldn't have killed my mother._

 _"_ _It's because of you she's dead!" I didn't notice she had my music box in her hands till she bashed me in the head with it and knocked me down to the ground._

* * *

Felicity began convulsing wildly on the hospital bed again. This time she was spitting out blood. The monitor was making loud beeping sounds, indicating that she was going critical again for the third time. The nurse rushed into the room where they had her strapped down back onto the bed. The doctors rushed in as well and tried to determine the situation.

"Her heart rate is going critical again!"

"Any changes!?"

"Internal Hemorrhage!"

"That's impossible!"

Then the monitor shut down with a long _beeeeeeep_. The doctors hurried with the ICD to give her an electrical charge to get her heart working again. Oliver, Sara, Diggle and Donna watched in horror at the scene that was happening. Donna kept sobbing and begging. Sara received a phone call from Laurel and she explained what happened to Felicity.

"She can't die," Oliver kept saying to himself, shaking his head. "She just can't."

They gave her three electrical shocks and her heart rate became normal again, and the monitor became stable once more. Donna sighed of relief.

And his phone suddenly rang. He picks up the phone from his pocket and answers it. It's her sister Thea.

"It's not a good time right now, Thea," he said.

" _Yeah, I know_ ," she sniffled. She's still upset about her break-up with Roy. She was staying at an apartment after they lost the house. Of course, she cared very little about the house. She was still upset about their mother's death. She wouldn't stop crying for days. "Listen, I'm trying to contact Roy but he won't pick up the phone. Is he okay?"

He wasn't really sure. Roy Harper was long gone. He didn't know where he had gone and what he's doing. It's his own fault that he left, turning him down.

"I'm sure he'll turn up pretty soon, Thea but I really can't talk to you right now."

"Why? What's going on? Where are you?"

"I'm in the hospital. A friend of mine got injured."

"Who was it? Is everything okay?"

He suddenly sees Donna Smoak arguing with the doctor near Felicity's room. The doctor was holding out a clipboard to her along with a pen. It was a document and the doctor wanted Donna to sign it, and Donna kept ranting out saying _no_ repeatedly. The question is…what for?

"I'll give you the details later. I have to go. Bye."

He walks over to Donna and the doctor to see what was happening.

"What's going on?"

"This jackass wants me to sign permission," Donna snapped.

"For what?" he asked sternly.

"To disconnect Felicity Smoak, Mr. Queen," the doctor said, "She's not going to survive another night. I think it's time to face the fact that she won't make it."

"She is going to make it and I'm not signing any shitty paper, do you hear me? So fuck off!" And she runs off to the bathroom.

"We'd ask you to sign but unfortunately, we need the signature of a family member. If the mother cannot sign, maybe the father will."

"Even if I was her family, I would never sign that permission slip," Oliver growled at the doctor. "Besides, Felicity doesn't have a father and I doubt he'll sign that permission slip either. So get off our asses."

"Very well, Mr. Queen." And the doctor walks off.

As the doctor went down to attend another patient, he bumped into a woman. She was almost in her thirties with lightly tanned skin and brown wavy hair.

"Excuse me, Miss," the doctor apologized.

"No problem."

"…Are you lost? Are you a patient?"

"Actually, I'm looking for a patient. Felicity Smoak?" she asked politely.

"Oh. Are you a friend?"

"I'm her sister," the woman grinned. The doctor did not notice that the grin contained pure evil. "Isabel…Smoak."

"Well, Miss Smoak, Felicity I still in the ER in a coma. We're still keeping an eye on things."

"I hope she's okay. I wouldn't want anything happening to my dear little sister," she said, pretending to be sad.

"Well, unfortunately, we don't know if she might live another night. She has already had three cardiac arrests. We are not sure if she might survive the next on since her heart is extremely weak," he informed.

"Oh. You mean she could die in any moment?" she asked.

"It's possible. It's already confirmed that she may never wake up from her coma. The best thing we can do right now is pray. Unfortunately, we have orders to disconnect your sister from the monitor."

"Disconnect her? You mean, you're just going to let her die?"

"I'm sorry for your loss but I am simply following hospital protocol. But we cannot disconnect her without the permission of a family member. I spoke to your mother to sign a permission slip that would give us the authority to disconnect Felicity Smoak but she refused to sign."

"My mother must be devastated. It must be hard for her, losing her youngest daughter. And it's also hard for me too, knowing that I may never see my sister again. But if it will take away the pain, then allow me to sign."

"Are you sure, Miss Smoak?" the doctor asked cautiously, "After all, she is your sister and I think this is something you should talk about with your mother first."

"Trust me, doctor; my mother will soon understand that this will be best for her. It will be the best for the three of us, actually."

"Very well then."

The doctor gave her the clipboard and Isabel signed the permission slip before giving them back to the doctor. Once he walked away, Isabel went to find a bathroom where she locked herself inside a cubicle and began to laugh menacingly.

* * *

 _I opened my eyes and I was in Verdant. Things were different this time. The Verdant was in ruins, probably a result from the earthquake Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn provoked. Smoke emerged from the burning remains and ashes fell around like dark snowflakes. In every part of my nightmare, every time and everywhere I turn, I would change age or change clothing. This is me, from when I met Oliver Queen and when I was simply an IT girl at Queens Consolidated._

 _I looked around. Ruins and ashes. Ruins and ashes. That's all there was. But I look down on the floor and there was blood everywhere but there were also bodies. Not just any bodies…Oliver, Diggle, Sara, Moira, Thea, Roy, Barry, Caitlin, Cisco, Walter, Jerome, Betty, Oswald, Donna and Rachel. Oh, no. Rachel. Not you. Please. I love Rachel with all my life. It breaks my heart seeing her among the people I love and care about. This is not real, I reminded to myself. This is not real. This is all a dream. I'll wake up soon._

 _"_ _You won't be waking up soon, Felicity," I hear a gruff voice speak up behind me._

 _My eyes widen at the familiarity of his voice. I quickly turn around to see Slade standing behind me in his Deathstroke suit and his black and orange mask on. I tried very hard not to cry as a growl at him._

 _"_ _What have you done to them?" I ask._

 _I nearly jumped when he took out his sword and wielded it around like a toy._

 _"_ _It's not what I have done, my love. It is what you have done." He pointed his sword at my chest, almost near my breast. "Just like Oliver, you let the people you love most die while you live."_

 _"_ _No, that's not true," I sobbed, "You killed them. There's blood on the sword."_

 _"_ _Yes, but this is the life you chose," he kept saying, "And for that, the people that are closest to you die because of the choice you made, including your little Rachel."_

 _"_ _You know nothing about her! You leave her alone!" I snap at him._

 _"_ _The same words your mother spoke before she died right in front of you," he said and my eyes widened in realization._

 _"_ _You're not Slade."_

 _And I bolted, jumping over the dead bodies and trying to slip on the blood. This is just a dream. The bodies aren't real. They are all just a_ _nightmare. Please wake up Felicity. No matter how much I run, this man kept one step closer to me. And I could hear the voices of my loved ones in my head, screaming at me. I ran downstairs to the basement of Verdant, our headquarters. It was still burning. But as I keep running, I trip and fall down the stairs like I did in my last nightmare. And I hit my head on the cold concrete floor._

 _I sit up and I look around, my vision going in and out of focus. I watched as the man in the Deathstroke costume walked down the stairs and approached me with the sword in his hands. I scooted backwards. There's nowhere else to go. I'm trapped._

 _"_ _What do you want from me!?" I screamed._

 _"_ _You're death," he said to me. "Soon, you will join your whore of a mother."_

 _"_ _No!"_

* * *

Slade tried to not think about Felicity Smoak's current situation. She was in a coma and she is in near death. She was dying. And he was concerned that she would die just like Shado did. If she died, he would blame it all on Oliver Queen and make him suffer for it. He is the reason why people around him die. He is the reason why Shado died. When he went to the hospital, Oliver threw a fit and wanted him out of the hospital. Diggle had to calm him down and told him not to make a scene. He gave his condolences to Felicity's mother, who was crying her eyes out over her daughter. At first, he only went to the hospital to mock Oliver Queen, to tease him and to taunt him about letting another of the people close to him die. But when he saw Felicity on the hospital bed, things began to take a different turn. She looked so innocent and so fragile. Her face was as white as a sheet. It reminded him of how his mother died, in a hospital bed and of lung cancer. He was only thirteen when she died, and it still hurt him to this day.

He kept making plans to eliminate Oliver but every now and then, he would stop to take a look at a few pictures of Felicity Smoak he had found thanks to a few hackers he had hired. He kept using the iPad to slide from photo to photo. Usually, he'd be looking at pictures of Shado and only pictures of Shade. But he knew that there was something about Felicity that forbade him to stay away.

He had looked at her childhood photos where she was simply a child. Most of the photographs were taken with her mother Donna and a chubby man with white hair and blue eyes. Slade realizes that Felicity's real hair colour is black and not blonde like her mother's. She must have died it. He also saw pictures of her in college where she was a Goth computer hacker where purple tank tops and an ankh. One of the photos that made Slade curious was one of her next to a young man with brown hair and another photo showed the two of them kissing. This surprised him. He didn't know Felicity had a boyfriend. He wonders what might have happened to him? It is quite normal for couples to break up but in this photograph they look like they really love each other. Of course, Felicity doesn't really seem to talk about her past life. There were many things he doesn't know about Felicity Smoak he wants to find out.

"You forgot about me." He heard the familiar voice of his dead love whisper behind him. No, he has never forgotten about her. He wishes he could.

"I will still get my revenge on Oliver, Shado. I promised you," he said, tapping his chin.

"…She is very beautiful," she said in her sweet voice. She was just as innocent and kind as he remembered her. "I can see why you are fascinated by her."

"I still love you, Shado," he told her, not turning to face her. If he did, he knew he would lose his sanity for sure.

"How long will that last? Till Oliver Queen is dead or until you find someone else to love?" she asked.

"There's only you and no one else," he kept saying to himself though he wasn't sure if it was true.

"That's what you said about Adeline," she said, "How many women must you lose till you no longer have anyone else to love?"

"Do not do this to me now, Shado," he said.

"You like her, do you, Slade Wilson? You like my daughter." Shado's voice suddenly changed into a raspy male voice. Slade's military instincts kicked in and grabbed a combat knife he kept hidden in one of the drawers of his desk. When he turns around, there was no one there.

Shit. What the hell was that? Someone or something was in his study, watching him. He felt it. The energy was still there. Who was it? And why the hell did he refer Felicity Smoak as _his daughter_?

His cellphone began to buzz. A message, probably from Isabel. She kept harassing him with text messages more than five times a day. He picked up his phone and read the text message she sent him. His single eye widened when he said: BLONDE BITCH WILL BE DISCONNECTED TONIGHT.

* * *

 _I can't do this. I'm never going to wake up. I'm going to die. I'm going to die in my sleep and I will be stuck in this tormenting nightmare forever._

 _"_ _You're such a pretty girl," he cooed as he grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up from the ground. I had grabbed a shard of glass while he wasn't looking. If I'm going to die in my sleep, I rather die fighting than surrendering myself to this thing. "It's such a misfortune to kill before getting to play with you."_

 _I did something I think I might regret doing. I spit in his face. Unfortunately, this just made him angrier. He releases my throat and backhanded me in the face._

 _"_ _If you don't play nice, I might as well kill another of your family," he says while pointing a gun a…Donna. No! Donna!_

 _Yelling, I used the shard of glass to slash him in the neck._

 _For a moment I expect blood pouring from the wound and the imposter in Deathstroke's costume to drop dead. Instead, flies, mosquitos and locusts swarmed out of the wound and began to surround me, biting me and stinging me everywhere. I screamed in panic as I tried to swat them away. What the fuck is this!? Freddy Krueger with Candyman!?_

 _Then, everything went black and the swarm was gone._

 _What happened? What's going on? Why is it so dark here? Where is everyone? Where am I? And why do I feel so faint? Oliver? Diggle? Sara? Donna? Rachel? Mom? Where are you guys? Why do I feel so cold? I'm dying am I?_

 _I look around and lights began to turn on one by one. I also began to hear music around me. Somewhere Over the Rainbow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It somehow sounds creepy now. As things become clearer, I began to realize that I was in the amusement park my mother and Donna used to take me. I used to ride on the carousel a lot. I always like picking the white horse and it seems that it will never stop. It was spinning by itself. I hated popcorn back then. It would always get stuck in my teeth. I like cotton candy; it melted in my mouth._

 _Am I meant to die here? If I am, then so be it. I would die happily on the carousel, better than dying in a house where my mother died. Now I do not know if she died of suicide attempt or murder. And I will probably never know if I die tonight. This will be my little place of heaven._

 _"_ _Felly!"_

 _I look beyond the carousel where the Hall of Mirrors would be. I still remember where it was. I got lost in it once and it took Donna 20 minutes to find me. I saw Rachel standing there in the middle of the entrance. She kept gesturing me to come towards her. I can't. I don't think I have the strength. I don't even know if it's really Rachel. What if it's a trap? No, I'm staying here. This is my place._

 _"_ _Felly, run!" she screamed at me._

 _I turn around. A dark figure held a bloody axe in his hands and he was chasing after me. I looked at Rachel with wide eyes and I run towards her direction. She goes inside first and I followed her but once inside, I couldn't see her anymore. It's just another illusion. She's not real. This is a trap. It's all a trick. Every mirror I look, I see Oliver's face or the faces of the others I saw dead back in Verdant: Sara, Diggle, Roy, Thea, Moira, Walter, Barry, Jerome, Oswald, Caitlin, Cisco, Rachel, Donna and my mother Evelyn. I also notice Slade and Isabel in the mirrors. All of them were glaring at me, sneering at me, yelling insults and death threats at me. Jerome had been laughing hysterically. Everywhere I go, I see mirrors and their faces. I don't know where I'm going. I'm so confused…I'm lost._

 _I drop on my knees in defeat and began to cry. I'm going to die. I know I am. The figure with the axe is coming for me. The man in Deathstroke's costume is coming for me. My father is coming for me._

 _"_ _Where are you, you little bitch!?" I could hear his voice coming nearer and nearer every moment. He's going to kill me._

 _"_ _Felly."_

 _I look up and I see Rachel. She's right in front of me. But she's inside the mirror. How did she get in the mirror?_

 _"_ _You have to get out of here," she told me quietly._

 _"_ _I can't. I'm lost. I don't know where I'm going," I sobbed._

 _"_ _You need to wake up, Felly. You got disconnected," she said, "And now you're going to die if you don't get out of here and wake up. If you don't wake up, you will die and be trapped in your mind forever. You will neither go to heaven or hell. You will be trapped here in your own mind, surrounded by grief and hate."_

 _"_ _I don't know how to get out of here. I'm lost. Everywhere I go, he's always there, watching and tormenting me."_

 _"…_ _You always knew the way out of here. You were just too afraid of using it. You tried different paths but always ending up getting back to the same spot, just like when you were little. You need to break through." She placed a small finger on the mirror glass and it crack slowly, and her eyes had turned black as coal._

 _She's right. It's my only way out. I have to break through. If I don't get out of here, I'll die and I will never see the people I love again. These things I kept seeing, they are not real._

 _"_ _Felicity, it's time for you to die." I turn around to see my father standing behind me. He's the dark figure with the bloody axe. "You'll stay here." He gave me a horrid grin. "And we can be together forever."_

 _Over my dead body._

 _I took my chance and I ran towards the mirror where Rachel once was. She disappeared just when my father appeared. I heard yell angrily at me as I smashed myself through the mirror, only to find myself falling down into darkness. I screamed and they echoed around me. This is not the way out I wanted. I am falling but it feels so slow and bottomless. Where is Rachel? Rachel!? Where are you!? Please, help me!_

 _As I continue to fall, I see a yellow bird. The canary. My canary. The canary I had in my hands before it turned into a carcass. It was still alive and well. And it was going to fly pass me in any moment. If I can just reach for it. Maybe it would take me back up to the surface, or perhaps I would just drag it down with me to my death. It's worth a shot. I stretched up my hand and reached for one of its wings._

* * *

The doctors have already disconnected Felicity Smoak from the monitor and it shut down automatically. They removed the IV and saline bag as well as the respiratory system. The have already gave her the time of death. 3: 24 a.m. They checked for a pulse. Nothing. There was no breathing or a heartbeat.

"What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing!?" Donna Smoak yelled angrily as she entered the room to discover the doctors removing the medical equipment from her daughter. Her eyes became wide with horror. Felicity's face was dead white and her lips were cold blue. "What have you done to my daughter!?" she shrieked as she tried to lunged at the doctor to strangle him but Oliver and Diggle came in just in time, and Diggle quickly held her back. She growled as she struggled to break free from Diggle arms. "You killed her! You killed my daughter! You killed my Felicity!" She sobbed. In the background, Sara was crying as well but less hysterical than Donna was.

"We're sorry for your loss, Mrs. Smoak," the doctor apologized, "but it was necessary."

"Who gave you the authority to disconnect Miss Smoak, Doctor," Oliver snapped at him, "As far as I remember, Mrs. Smoak refused to sign the documents that gave you permission to disconnect her daughter."

"Yes, but we also got authorization from Felicity Smoak's sister," he said.

 _Sister?_ Oliver thought as he stared at the doctor in disbelief.

"Sister!? Felicity was an only child! She doesn't have a fucking sister!" Donna snarled but gave up on trying breaking free and began to cry in Diggle's arms. "My baby!"

Oliver grabbed the doctor by the collar and pulled him towards him. The doctor's eyes widened in surprise at the young man's anger.

"Who was that woman?" Oliver demanded.

"Her name was Isabel. She said she was Felicity Smoak's sister," he stammered, "I was only following protocol."

 _Isabel? Isabel Rochev? Why that fucking vixen! That fucking snake! How dare she mess with my family!_ Oliver felt like he was going to explode. _Wait till I get my hands on her. And I bet Slade is involved in it too._ He releases the doctor and dismisses him and the nurses from the rooms. They have five minutes to say goodbye before she is taken to the morgue for autopsy. But Oliver swore that he would have the hospital sued for disconnecting a patient without the official consent of the family member, and for letting a person falsify permission without asking for ID. Also, he would sue them for accomplice of a murderer.

Donna sobbed as she looks down at a dead Felicity before leaning down to kiss her temple.

"I love you, my beautiful baby girl," she says and backs away when Sara came near.

"Hope you're happy wherever you are," Sara sniffle as she tried to hold back her tears.

Diggle simply placed her hands crossed over her chest and kissed her head. He didn't have any words to say. He was having a hard time trying not cry in front of everyone. Oliver came in and took the sheets to cover her body.

"I'm sorry, Felicity," he apologize in a whisper, a tear going down his cheek, "I didn't want anything happening to you. I'm sorry I failed you."

Just as he was about to cover her body with the sheets, Felicity suddenly sat up and shrieked. And all the windows in the room shattered and exploded.

* * *

 **Well, there you go guys. My first introduction of Felicity Smoak becoming the Black Canary. I hope you like this chapter. You can leave a review of what you thought of this chapter and tell me what you think I should add to this story. Thanks for reading and don't worry, I will not leave this story on hiatus. There's still more of this story to come.**


	8. Chapter 8: Recovery

Chapter 8: Recovery

 **Okay, guys, getting back to Felicity's point of view now that she's back from a coma. But of course, just as Slade mentioned in Chapter 6, she never woke up the same again. Things will now get intense throughout this story.**

* * *

It's been only two minutes since I returned from the dead and now I have people hovering over me, asking if I was all right and asking if I had any broken bones. The first thing I did when I woke up was call for my mother. Donna embraced me and held me tightly. She may not be my real mother but she was the only one who raised me, so, she technically _is_ my mother even if not biologically. Besides, I needed a hug right now. I'm fucking freezing right now. Who the hell put the air conditioner on 40 degrees? If the patient doesn't die of a disease, they will certainly die from the cold in here. Everyone just kept staring at me. It's getting annoying pretty quickly, I don't know why. Perhaps waking up from a coma just put me in a bad mood. The last thing I want is someone touching me right now. I don't want those stupid doctors near me. Oliver already told me about how that bitch of Isabel Rochev came into the hospital, pretending to be my sister (which by the way, I have none), to have me disconnected. She's going to pay for that, I'll make sure of it.

"So, you okay?" Diggle asked me. He was worried about me. He knew that something is quite odd about me since I woke up, despite the fact that all the windows in the room shattered when I woke up screaming. He noticed that I've been quieter and more hostile. If only he knew what happened during my coma.

"Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all," I tell him.

"You were in a coma for three days," Oliver informed me. "Do you remember anything?"

Yeah, I remember. I received a shockwave by William Tockman and got electrocuted. But I couldn't let Donna know that.

"I remember almost being fried chicken," I tell them with a small smile. I know it shouldn't be funny but at least it makes me feel better.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"That's mostly I remember," I lied. He already knew what happened. I was actually lying to Donna, not him.

"Okay," he nods.

"Doctors want to do a few tests to make sure you're okay," Sara says to me, "And to make sure there's no risk of you having another cardiac arrest."

I said no. I don't want those doctors near me. I don't even want to look at them. MRI's or whatever they might want to do. They can forget. I am not letting them touch me. Ever.

One of the nurses came in with a mini flashlight in her hands. She was old, wrinkled and skinny with grey hair tied back in a bun and lips red. She looked sour. And I don't like dealing with sour people.

"Nurse, I don't think she wants anyone too close to her right now," Diggle warned her.

"Don't tell me how to do my job and I won't tell you how to do yours," she barked bitterly as she came closer to me. I don't want this bitch near me. "Come on, look into the light. Come on, we don't have all morning."

She began to flash that darn thing in my face and I quickly grabbed her wrist tightly, and the mini flashlight fell from her hands as I did so. Everyone looked at me in shock, including the nurse.

"Back...off," I snarled in warning.

"Felicity, please, calm down," Donna tells me.

"No. Keep her away from me," I said.

"Felicity, we just want you t e okay," Diggle said.

"Didn't you hear me? I don't want here. I don't want any doctor touching me. Just make them go away," I said almost hysterically. Oliver stared at me in concern.

"Okay, okay," he tells me to calm down, "But first, let go of the nurse."

I breathe deeply. Calm down, Felicity. Once I released the nurse, she scurried away in panic. Great. A few minutes back from coma and now everyone thinks I'm going crazy. It's only been a few freakin' minutes and now my mentality is messed up. Thanks a lot to the Freddy Krueger thing that tried to kill me.

Diggle soon came in close with his own mini flashlight. I flinched at the bright source flashing into my eyes but I made no move to recoil.

"Eye dilation is good," he said.

"Broken bones?" Oliver asked.

Diggle squeezed my arms for any signs of broken bones. I don't have any broken bones. If I had, I would have known, believe me.

"Good."

"Movements?"

"I'm moving aren't I?" I say, waving my arms around.

"Loss of feeling?"

And Sara suddenly pinches me.

"Ow!" I cry out.

"All good. I'm sorry, it was necessary," Sara said as she embraced me, "You have no idea how scared I was. We missed you."

Yeah, I missed them too. I'm so glad I'm here. But I really like to get out of here right now.

"Can I go home, guys?" I asked them. I don't need their permission to leave though. "I want to go home and lie down."

"You can't just leave the hospital now, Felicity," Oliver said, "You just came back from a coma. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go home yet."

"Well...I want to go home," I said more harshly, "I've been in a coma for three days, Oliver. Three days. I mean, I know there are patients that have been in a coma way longer than I have but it's been three days and I'm already going crazy here. William Tockman shocked me. Isabel tried to disconnect me so I would die. I woke screaming. And I don't want to be in this hospital with stupid doctors that don't know where to put their shit together."

Everyone stared at me in shock. Great. Just great. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut?

"...Besides, the hospital food here sucks," I said after that long awkward silence. My head hurts.

"Felicity's right. She's not staying here," Donna said in my favour, "She's leaving this shithole right now."

* * *

Slade's POV

Isabel, what have you done?

"Sir, we brought in the AMMO and A-K's that you wanted," one of my guards spoke as he entered my study. I hate interruptions. I'm in the middle of glowering right now. I have to deal with this shit. I already have enough problems right now, "The delivery truck is just outside the mansion."

I had my crew assault a delivery truck of A-K guns and ammo that was on it's way to a military flight to Iraq. Doubt the army in Iraq would need them. They already have enough guns there. They have brought it to me at the Merlyn Mansion. I have bought the Merlyn Mansion when I came here to Starling City, knowing that this house belonged to a friend of Oliver Queen, if you can call him a _friend_. Thomas Merlyn, son of Malcolm Merlyn. Oliver Queen has no room for friends, only allies or enemies. I bought this mansion to be close to Oliver Queen and close to what's left of his family.

"Tell the rest of the crew to drive the truck around back and load them out," I tell him. The guard nods before leaving the study. Thank God he's gone. I'm about to blow up, especially right now if Isabel doesn't show up. I am going to kill her. She did exactly what I told her not to do. Felicity Smoak was not to be touched and Isabel disobeyed me.

When Isabel arrived at my study, she was smiling at me as if satisfied with her actions. She actually thought her actions pleased me. No. It was the opposite. I was displeased with her action. When she noticed my glare, her satisfied smile slowly disappears.

"You disobeyed me, Isabel," I said, standing up from the leather chair walking out from behind the desk. "You did what I told you not to do."

"The blonde bitch was going to die anyways," she said almost hissing at me as if I have offended her, "In fact, I think I did her a favour."

I seized her neck and squeezed. She choked under my grasp and tried to pry my fingers away, not that it would work. She should know better what the Mirakuru does to people. It makes people stronger. It makes people faster. But it also makes people angrier. It makes _me_ angrier. But now, it is not the Mirakuru that's making me angry. It is Isabel that is making me angry for her disobedience.

"She was not to die at your hands," I roared angrily and shook her violently, "If anyone should have killed her, it should have been me and making Oliver watch."

"I did it...for you," she choked. Liar. She didn't do it for me, she did it for herself. "I'm sorry."

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, Isabel," I growl at her. Her eyes were rolling back and making small squeaking noises. I knew she was choking out. Don't be such a weakling, Isabel. You also have Mirakuru in your veins. Idiot. I release her and she drops to the floor and gasps for air.

"Mr. Queen..." she coughed and gasp, "was pissed when the doctors disconnected her. He is already suffering the death of her IT girl. I think it was enough."

"It is not enough, Isabel," I said as I turn my back on her, "I wanted Oliver to suffer. I wanted him to be humiliated at the eyes of the citizens of Starling City. To expose him for what he is. And we needed her for that. You failed me, Isabel."

"We still have his lover, Sara Lance," she said, "We can use her to reveal the truth of Oliver Queen to the public. If not, we use her sister Laurel. We threaten her family if she does not reveal Oliver's identity to the world."

"You better hope your are right." I have already informed Miss Laurel Lance about Oliver Queen being the Arrow. I could use her to reveal the Arrow's identity to the public. But it doesn't please me the fact that Felicity Smoak is now that turn around and smack her in the face. She spats out blood which indicates I have broken a tooth. I don't care. She should consider herself lucky. It is nothing compared to what I can do to her. "Fail me again and this time, I will regret letting you live."

"Yes, Mr. Wilson," she nods.

"Now, get out. GET OUT!" I roared angrily and she flees from the study. She should flee. I gave her and act of kindness. If she stayed longer, I would have done worse to her. I should have ripped her throat out for this. But I know I am better than that. I simply left her be.

Once she left, I returned to sit behind my desk where I continued to watch photos of Felicity Smoak, from birth to present. Cute as a child and beautiful as a young adult. It's a pity she had to die this way, barely starting adult life. At least, she died in a peaceful slumber. Perhaps she will be able to see Shado wherever this girl goes. Heaven or hell, depending on whom they both were. I know one thing. God has no place for me in heaven.

* * *

Felicity's POV

It feels really good being back in my apartment. I'm tired and so is Donna. Once we entered, I was greeted by Rusty whom I have forgotten to give back to Mrs. Fernandez. He rubbed his head against my legs and purred. I could barely walk. Donna helped me into my apartment and I was limping. I wanted to sleep on the bed but the bed was giving me nightmares, so, I decided to sleep on the sofa. Donna made me one of my favourite soups. New England clam-chowder. She also made me hot chocolate. Hmm. I needed that. The hospital was cold as fuck. Oliver promised me he would sue the hospital for negligence and security issues.

I asked Donna if she could return Rusty to Mrs. Fernandez for me. And she did. But a few minutes later, Donna came back running for her life and slammed the door closed and locked it tightly. I asked what happened (for the fear of someone trying to break into my apartment). It turns out Mrs. Fernandez chased Donna away from her property with a broomstick when she saw what Donna was wearing, a purple cocktail dress with a glitter blazer and high heels. She thought Donna was a hooker. I laughed. That's what she gets for wearing dresses like that in public. She looked like she was being chased by Pac-Man and she was the ghost. Well, at least Mrs. Fernandez has her cat back and I don't have to worry about her showing up on my front door, for now.

"So, how are you feeling, honey?" Donna asked me as she sat next to me.

"Sore," I tell her and it's true. My body felt so heavy and my voice croaked whenever I spoke, "but I'm fine."

I watched her face. She kept pursing her lips and avoided eye contact with me. I noticed her nose turning red and her eyes watered.

"Mom?"

She looks up at me with tears streaming down her eyes.

"I thought you were going to die," she whimpered.

"Ah, Mom." And I bring her into an embrace as she cried. I understand how she feels. I'm the only family she has left ever since her sister (my mother) and her husband (my uncle) died. She didn't have any children. I'm the only thing she has for a daughter. My mother committed suicide (though I doubt she committed suicide) and my uncle Michael died of cancer. My grandparents died of old age. Technically, we're the last of the Smoak family. My aunt and I. Colton, he doesn't even count as a Smoak. He's lower than an insect.

We watched a comedy movie called _Blended_ starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore until I fell asleep. But this time, I had no nightmares. It was dreamless. Sweet dreamless sleep.

I opened my eyes, the movie was at the end credits and Donna has fallen asleep on the sofa, snoring softly. I really got to pee. Three days in a coma and my bladder feels like it's going to explode. I really have to pee. And quickly tip-toed to the bathroom without waking up Donna. I pulled down my pants and sat on the toilet, waiting for my bladder to empty out. I sigh. That feels a lot better. I wonder how long other people in a come would last without peeing or pooping. I can't imagine that. It's kind of disturbing, if you think about it. After peeing and drying, I flushed the toilet and pulled my pants back up. I went to wash my hands in the sink but I took a glance at my reflection in the cabinet mirror. God. I look horrible. My face was pale. I had dark shadows circling my eyes. My lips were pale and chapped. The wound on the bridge of my nose was dark and thin-lined but still noticeable. And my hair was in a complete mess. Oh God, I look like the Corpse Bride from Tim Burton. And I also feel a bit strange, a bit different. I don't know what it is but I feel very different. Ever since I got shocked by Tockman and woke up from a coma, I haven't felt the same. And waking up screaming and the windows exploding. That was not normal. Did _I_ do that? If I did, how did I do it? Did I do it just by screaming? Should I even test it? I don't think it's a good idea, especially when Donna is sleeping in the living room, but it's worth a shot if I want to find out. So, I screamed in front of the mirror.

Nothing happened. Not even a crack. And just as I feared, Donna came bursting into the bathroom.

"What happened?" she asked almost in a panic. She looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Stall, Felicity, stall.

"I thought I saw a cockroach," I tell her, "It was just a hairball Rusty hacked in the bathroom. I threw it away so don't worry."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" she asked. No.

"Yes, I'm sure," I said.

"Okay. Listen, you don't mind if I spend the night here with you, right?" she asked.

"No, not at all. I have some spare pajamas in my bedroom. They might feel a bit tight for you but I think they'll fit," I tell her. She nods with a small smile on her face and heads for my bedroom. I sigh in relief and run a hand through my hair. That was close. If she found out what I was trying to do. She'll think I'm crazy. I quickly wash my hands and dry before leaving the bathroom when all the sudden... _SMASH!_ I run back to the bathroom to see what that was. Shards from the cabinet mirror lay in the sink like broken knives. The mirror just fell apart. What the hell was that?

* * *

Slade's POV

Three Days Later...

"Do you have the schedule for the next board meeting, Miss Rochev?" I asked Isabel who stood next to my desk. Every now and then I would only look at Isabel for simple business. I was still angry at her disobedience. And she would look at me like a dog would look at you when you kicked it for doing something bad. It's pathetic of her begging for my forgiveness when she knows better than to cross me. Trust is easy to destroy and it takes many years to build. She just crumbled my trust like a tower of blocks. I would at the desk where Felicity Smoak sat. Her computers were untouched and her personal items were still there. I would have to ask maintenance manager to clear out her desk for me and have her personal items delivered to her aunt as an expression of condolence. I would have done so by attending the funeral but I knew that Oliver and his little whore would be there. I decided not to go there in order to not cause a scene.

"Yes, you're next board meeting is on Wednesday with Mr. Lex Luthor," she says to me, "On Friday, you have a meeting with Mr. Bruce Wayne. Tomorrow, you have a meeting with Arthur Light -."

"Cancel my tomorrow board meeting with Arthur Light, I have other important things to do tomorrow," I tell her and she starts typing on the Q-Pad

"What things?" she asks without looking up from the device.

"Is it any of your business to know?" It's not. I'm planning to take flowers to Felicity Smoak grave as part of my condolences. It's the least I could do for her after what Isabel did. I would not tell Isabel because of her...temperamental tantrums.

Now I have to deal with Oliver Queen coming into my office. I should probably kick him out of the building and forbid him from coming near the building. But where's the fun in that, not having to torture him with my constant presence in the building? There is no fun in that. Still, I am not in the greatest mood to deal with him. He was already standing in front of Isabel.

"Detective Quentin Lance and three more cops are in this building to arrest you for the attempt of murder of Felicity Megan Smoak," he says. Isabel said nothing. She remained stoic as ever. Oliver was pissed off.

"Attempt?" I spoke up. Is she not dead?

"Don't act like you don't know," Oliver snapped at me, "Isabel tried to kill Felicity in the hospital while being in the coma."

"Actually, I tried to have her disconnected," Isabel said, "but you have no proof of it whatsoever."

"What makes you sure Isabel did it?" I asked him plainly.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, your assistance wasn't very careful nor was she very patient on getting rid of Felicity Smoak," he says, "Quentin Lance check security cameras in the hospital. She was talking to the doctor that was attending Felicity and she signed a few documents before she left."

"And what did those documents contained if I may ask?" I asked even if I already know the answer to that.

"She had Felicity Smoak disconnected. She used a fake name to pretend she was her sister," he says, "Unfortunately for Isabel, she doesn't know how to cover her tracks. She left fingerprints on the pen she used to sign the documents and the police were able to identify her writing."

"Oh, Isabel, why were you so careless," I said casually, "If you're going to kill someone, of course I told you not to do so, you should at least do it right and not leave trails."

"Either way, Felicity is dead. I think I did everyone a favour," Isabel kept saying. Keep your mouth shut, Isabel. Everything that you say will be used against you. "She was a total bitch."

"That's calling the kettle black."

We turned our attention to the doorway and to our surprise, there stood Felicity Smoak, leaning against the door-frame with her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing a black dress with a white Peter Pan collar and leather belt around her waist, and her lips were painted in wine red. She looked like Wednesday Addams. She no longer was wearing her ponytail, her blonde locks cascading over her shoulders. And of course, she does not look happy.

"The next time want to kill me, Miss Rochev, I suggest you choose something a little bit less obvious," she said sternly, "Of course, if you wanted to be obvious, why not just stab me repeatedly in my sleep."

I look at Isabel. She was in complete shock seeing Felicity still standing and alive. I was surprised as well.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a hiss, "They said you were dead."

"Actually, Oliver said I wasn't dead but since I knew you wouldn't believe him, so, I decided to come here to prove a point," Felicity said.

"And what is that?"

"Karma is a bitch," she said. This is the first time I have ever heard her use that word before and it is sort of unnerving. I wonder if it is a good idea to be at her bad side. "To answer your question, God still has a few details to sort out for my new home, so, until then I'm stuck here."

That's when Detective Quentin Lance and three more cops appeared into my office.

"Isabel Rochev, you're under arrest for the attempt of murder against Felicity Megan Smoak," the detective said as he handcuffed her wrists behind her back, "You have the right to remain silence. Anything you say will be used against you at court. You have the right to an attorney. If you do not have an attorney -."

"Oh, shut up and take me to jail. You're boring me!" she snapped.

"Isabel, watch your tongue. Do not say another word," I warned her, "I'll call your lawyer this afternoon."

"Good," she says as she was being dragged out of my office by another cop but took a quick glance at Felicity, "This is not over."

"Who says that it is?" she says. She seems serious. She seems different, very different.

Once Isabel was gone, Oliver approached Detective Lance.

"What about Slade Wilson?" he asked, giving me a glare.

"Were you aware of Isabel Rochev's attempt against Felicity Smoak's life?" the detective asked me.

"No, not really." I was not aware of Isabel's attempt until she sent me the text message. "I'm simply perplexed for what she did."

"Well, since Mr. Wilson had nothing to do with Isabel's attempt of murdering Felicity Smoak, I think there's no reason to arrest him right now," he said, "Of course, if there's anything you need to tell me, Mr. Wilson, please call us."

"Will do," I smile. "I will do everything in my power to make things right. I will make sure Miss Rochev learns her lesson."

"Okay then," the detective sighed, "I better get going again. I'm glad you're all right, Miss Smoak." Then he left.

"Felicity, you can go home if you want to," Oliver said to her but she simply shook her head.

"I thought I'd get some work around here," she said to him. Something is wrong with her. I can tell from the look in her eyes. She seems a lot more stern and perhaps colder. It's just as I warned Oliver about. These who wake up from a coma, do not come back the same. But how much did it change Felicity Smoak.

Oliver reluctantly nods at her before leaving the office. It seems that he trusts I will not do anything to her. He is correct. There are too many witnesses for me to lay hands on her, and there are security cameras in every corner. She and I are alone but I do not feel we are alone. Thousands of eyes are watching us even if they are not present.

"Glad to have you back, Miss Smoak," I tell her.

"Good to be back," she stood up straight and patted the skirt of her dress.

"I was afraid you were dead. I thought I had to clear out your desk and deliver your personal items to your aunt." The reminder that I know a small part of her secret made her stiffen but she still remained stoic and serious.

"I appreciate the effort but that no longer will be necessary." She seems serious, a lot more direct. It shouldn't be any of my concern but it does. "Is there anything you need?"

"Yes, I need you to make sure Isabel cancelled out my appointment with Arthur Light tomorrow. Can you do that?"

"Yes." I watched as she adjusted her glasses.

"Is everything all right?" I ask her with a hint of concern.

"Yes. A little bit shaken up from my recent event but I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You seem different today," I tell her. She frowns at me.

"...Have a good day, Mr. Wilson." And she returns to her desk. She worked all day in front of the computer. I would look at her every now and then but she would not turn to look at me, not even a glance. She remained focused on her work. But I noticed something. She was looking at something on her computer on the Google website. SONIC SCREAMS. I frowned curiously. Why would she be looking at those kinds of information? What is it that she has discovered and has not spoken about it? As far as I know, not even Oliver knows what is happening to her. This needs to be taken care of and fast.

* * *

 ** _39 years ago..._**

 _"So, what's going to happen if our parents divorced?" I asked my brother Wade. We were playing Monopoly in our bedrooms. We had bunk beds. He always slept on the top. And it was storming. "Which parent are we going to live with?" Of course, I was only eight at that time._

 _"Isn't it obvious? You'll be living with your mother and I'll be living with the asshole of my father," he said after sucking in a cigarette and letting smoke puff out of his mouth. He was only fourteen but he can sometimes be rough and also a big mouth. My mother would never approve of him smoking, especially in front of me. Of course, my mother never approved of anything from him. "She hates me you know."_

 _"I don't hate you," I tell him. The reason why my mother hates my brother Wade is because he's not really my brother. My father cheated on her with a whore and brought back Wade. Wade doesn't even have the last name Wilson. His last name De Farge. My father thought she couldn't have any children and then I came along. I always noticed my mother glaring at Wade but I never took it as hatred. I always thought it was because he did something bad which is something he always did._

 _"Of course you don't," he says, "You're the good boy of the family. But just you wait. Once you get older, you'll start hating pretty soon." At this moment I would say he's wrong but somewhere in the future, knew he'd be right._

 _"Wade?"_

 _"Yeah? What?"_

 _"Do you hate me?" I asked him. He frowned at me._

 _"Why the hell would I hate you and where did you hear that shit from?" he asks me angrily._

 _"Dad says that you hate me because I'm a shithead and that's why you're always picking at me," I tell him. Here how it goes. My mother hates Wade and my father hates me. And that's how we do not get along._

 _"Well, don't you listen to anything that asshole says," he tells me sternly, "because it's not true. I don't hate you. I only pick on you for fun, not because I hate you. You're my brother. Well, you're my **half** -brother but you're still my brother."_

 _"...Wade, Mom 's ill," I tell him, "She's coughing a lot. She has a fever. And she's breathing funny. And her hair is gone." I didn't know she had cancer back then. There was signs though. She was going bald from the chemotherapy._

 _"Yeah, as if nobody had noticed."_

 _"Is she going to die?"_

 _"Heck if I know. I'm not the doctor. You know, despite her hate for me, I hope she doesn't die. But even if she does dies, I'll still be here for you."_

 _"But we'll be living with Dad and he hates us both." On of the things my father did to express his hate for us, is slapping me in the face and hitting Wade in the back of the head with a baseball bat._

 _"Don't worry, we won't be living with him for long. If I go, you're coming with me. We're brothers, Slade, and brothers stick together..."_

 _"Like a gum to a shoe," I said._

 _"Exactly." He grabbed me and rubbed his fist against the top of my head. I always hated it when he does that._

 ** _Sleeping at Last- Saturn_**

 ** _(Violin)_**

 _Of course, it was just as I feared. A few months later, my mother died of cancer, and Wade and I were forced to live with our abusive father. He always came back home drunk and angry. Wade had to keep me locked in my closet so my father wouldn't find me. Unfortunately, Wade was always paying the price for his violent behaviour. It came to a point where Wade and I couldn't take anymore and we decided to run away from home. While our father was at work, we pack our bags as fast as we could and we took a cab. We stole 100 dollars from our father's wallet and went far away as we could. We made it to the other side of Sydney where we were born. I was a bit scared at first but as the years went by, things were a bit normal for me and my brother. That was until we were running low on cash. We didn't have a job, so, we began robbing pharmacies and stores at night, stealing food and clothes. When I saw Wade stealing money from the cash register, I knew that something was changing in him. I asked him to consider but he said no. And things began to increase and I always end up right in the middle of it. Wade and I stole a car for a joyride. He doesn't know how to drive and ended up crashing into someone's fence. We bailed afterwards. Wade was teaching me how to smoke. At first, I didn't want to because the smell was ghastly but he thought I was child and I did it anyway just to prove him wrong. Then, he started drinking. I didn't start drinking till I was twelve and my first beer tasted like horse urine. I preferred the Australian rum. Like I said, I was scared because these things were all new to me and against the law. I thought we'd caught and thrown in jail, notifying our father our location. But the adrenaline of it made me feel unafraid. It was exciting._

 ** _You taught me the courage, of stars before you left._**  
 ** _How light carries on endlessly, even after death._**

 _That was until I saw my brother stabbing an old man in the alleyway with a pocketknife and that's when I knew he crossed the line._

 ** _With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite._**  
 ** _How rare and beautiful it is to even exist._**

 _"Wade?"_

 ** _I couldn't help but ask_**  
 ** _For you to say it all again._**

* * *

Felicity's POV

It's been almost a week since I woke from the coma. I have been trying to organize my life as it was before. I returned to work by day from 7 to 4, from 4 to 7 I hang out with my mother at the mall or at the movies and I would work with the Arrow afterwards. They are all a distraction from my traumatizing nightmare that nearly killed me. Over the last few days, I haven't had a single nightmare. I kept my interactions with Slade to a minimum after knowing he already sold out Oliver's company to separate competitive companies. We simply spoke about business and nothing more. He didn't even bother asking personal questions from me and I am somehow glad for that. Of course, he would still look at me from his office. I find that quite weird and disturbing. Oliver has been a bit concerned about my behavior though. He noticed I was quieter than usual. I was too pensive. He asked if I was all right every now and then, and I would give him the same answer even though I wasn't really sure if I was all right. I know that something is wrong with me. My body has become more energized and I always desired desperately to get out of the chair and do something physical like that _wing chun_ Sara kept telling me about. And let's be honest, I'm getting the hang of it. Diggle wouldn't leave my side every time I worked beneath Verdant for the fear of me getting hurt again. I know he means well but...hey, I'm not made of freaking glass, guys!

 ** _I tried to write it down_**  
 ** _But I could never find a pen._**  
 ** _I'd give anything to hear_**

As for Donna, she extended her visit for a few more weeks to spend more time with me. Yeah, right. Every since the coma thing, she went all Momma Bear again and was treated me like I'm twelve. God. Making my meals and doing my laundry. I know that other sons and daughters would consider this as a good thing but I can take care of myself. I don't need her to do this for me. I'm fine.

 ** _You say it one more time,_**  
 ** _That the universe was made_**  
 ** _Just to be seen by my eyes._**

What happened to Isabel? She's still in prison. Slade had a lawyer called for her and unfortunately for the police station, they were obligated to release Miss Rochev by the end of the week because their chief states they do not have enough evidence to convict her of attempting murder. Urgh! I wish Dorothy dropped the house on _her_ instead of her sister. I hate her and I also hate Slade. I'm still considering quitting the company but it is the only place I'm being paid well and I need the money for my apartment and bills.

 ** _I couldn't help but ask_**  
 ** _For you to say it all again._**

And Rachel? Being with Rachel was like a sigh a relief. My little girl. She means the entire world to me. It has been a week since I've seen her but it feels like it was forever. The orphanage called me after knowing of my new condition, and stated that Rachel acted hysterical in the middle of the night the other few days ago. When I went to pick her up, she was just sitting by herself and playing chess by herself. She is always by herself. She is never very social. When she saw me, she quickly bolted from her chair and practically threw herself into my arms. I embraced her tightly. I missed her.

 ** _I tried to write it down_**  
 ** _But I could never find a pen._**

Things have become more or less normal after this or at least, that's what I thought.

* * *

 ** _A Year Ago..._**

 _"So, what exactly am I supposed to do here?" I asked the caretaker of the orphanage. I got into this program where I'm supposed to be a substitute foster parent for kids that do not trust being adopted by strangers. We're supposed to be temporary parents. There was a sign up for it and I volunteered, something I want to do besides working at Queens Consolidated and earn some extra money. I was assigned to a six year old girl named Rachel Roth. The caretaker spoke to me about her before showing me the place around. Rachel was apparently found in Gotham in an alleyway next to a dead woman that had her guts spilled out. They assumed she was her mother. She was holding her hand when they found her. "She's dead," that was the only thing she said before being brought here. The police wanted to send her to a psychiatrist to have her evaluated for any signs for psychosis but until they get a warrant, the girl is stuck here with no one allowed to adopt her until she is investigated. It's a sad story but I have teenie tiny question...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SIGNING ME UP WITH HER FOR THEN? If you guys think she's dangerous, why the hell are you dragging me into this? I was nervous now._

 ** _I'd give anything to hear_**  
 ** _You say it one more time,_**

 _"We're to ensure trust among our children. They don't really trust being adopted by other people. They think they'll make them forget about their own parents. It's deniability, I assure you. There were even a few incidents where some orphans become violent at the presence of the stranger that tries to adopt them," she says to me._

 ** _That the universe was made_**  
 ** _Just to be seen by my eyes._**

 _"Could be worse. I saw this movie where a kid at an orphanage kept throwing darts at people so they wouldn't adopt him," I told her._

 _"Yes, well, one of them threw a knife and ended up in juvenile prison for a while," she said._

 ** _I couldn't help but ask_**  
 ** _For you to say it all again._**

 _"Oh. Has Rachel done anything involving violence?" I asked._

 _"No, not really. But she doesn't seem to talk to anyone. She is always cooped up inside reading books and drawing. And her drawings are quite eerie."_

 ** _I tried to write it down_**  
 ** _But I could never find a pen._**

 _"How so? Is she drawing trees with heads? Curiosity, by the way."_

 _"She is always drawing these birds. These horrible black birds. They're ravens."_

 _Okay, that is certainly disturbing._

 _"So, you're hoping I could straighten her out by leaving her in my care."_

 _"Only in the weekends. We don't plan on letting the children live with substitute foster parents, knowing that there will come a day when the child gets attached to the substitute or the substitute gets attached to the child." Oookay. That's kind of stupid. What if the substitute actually ends up being the official foster parent. You really didn't think this through, did you? But that's all right, as long as the little girl doesn't end up putting a pillow at my face in the middle of the night, everything will be just peachie, I hope._

 ** _I'd give anything to hear_**  
 ** _You say it one more time,_**

 _She guides to the bedroom where Rachel was staying. At least she wasn't staying in an isolated bedroom. At least six more kids slept in here. It was entirely empty except for a little girl sitting on the window-seat, drawing. I'm guessing that must be Rachel Roth._

 ** _That the universe was made_**  
 ** _Just to be seen by my eyes._**

 _"Rachel!" the caretaker called out as we walked towards the window where she was sitting. The little girl turned to face us. She was about six. Her was small and pale with pinkish shadows beneath her ice blue eyes and her hair was sleek and black like...well, like raven wings. "Rachel, this is your substitute foster parent. She will be taking care of you for the weekends. Please try to get along with her."_

 _She stared at me attentively. She didn't say anything. She seems very shy. I hope things go well with her._

 _"Hi, Rachel, my name is Felicity Smoak," I smile at her and she smiles back me softly._

 ** _With shortness of breath, I'll explain the infinite_**  
 ** _How rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist._**

* * *

 **Hey, guys, sorry it took me long to write this chapter, I was really busy but don't worry, _Black Smoak_ is still in play.**


	9. Chapter 9: Discovery

**Okay, guys, one of these flashback are going to be about Felicity and Cooper while the other one is Slade's reaction to Wade stabbing the old man in the alley for just a few moments when they were in college. Hope ya like the rest.**

* * *

 _"Make sure you call me every week to make sure everything's okay or if there's an emergency, or if you're homesick," Donna kept saying to me as I unloaded the luggage from the backseat of her car. I think she had a bad time coping the fact I'm going to college. I'm still her little girl. She wouldn't stop crying all the way to the MIT. I still had black hair back then but I also followed the Goth computer geek style._

 _"I will, Mom. Don't worry, I'm fine." I shut the backdoor aft unloaded the last bag._

 _"I'll miss you," she said smiling at me but I can tell she was going to cry again._

 _"I'll miss you too," I tell her. After that, she drives away._

 _Once she was gone, I headed for the dormitories. One floor is where the girls slept while the other floor is where the boys slept._

 _I was having a bit difficulty trying to pull the luggage up the stairs. I tried asking for an elevator but there was no one managing the lobby. College kids moving in and out. Looks like being new to college has its disadvantages._

 _My gymbag slipped from the luggage and it began tumbling down the stairs._

 _"Shit," I muttered._

 _And that's how I met Cooper._

 _He was coming up the stairs. He found my bag and he came up here to return it. He was a really great guy. He was handsome too...and a little bit of a douche._

 _"You dropped this," he said to me as he returned the bag to me._

 _"Thanks."_

 _"You know they have an elevator here, right?"_

 _"Yeah, unfortunately, no one would tell me where it is."_

 _"Yeah, you're going to get a lot of assholes here. I'm Cooper, by the way," he introduced himself, stretching out his hand._

 _"Felicity...Smoak," I said as we shook hands. That's how our relationship began._

* * *

Felicity's POV

It's been only a week since the incident and I am somehow feeling like myself again. I was the same talkative self again and for the first time, the others were actually glad I was a chatterbox again. I think in Diggle's words, it hallelujah for him. Oliver was glad I was feeling better. And Sara was non-stop asking me to hang out with her at the mall. I don't do the whole mall thing. Besides, I'm completely booked. I have work and afterwards, I'm hanging out with Donna. She's trying to hang out with me every second she has and I don't want to disappoint her. We're going ice-skating today. Yeah...I'm terrible at ice-skating. I'm clumsy enough, let alone having me fall on my ass every time I step on ice on blades.

I'm just finishing up work. Being Slade's executive assistant is a bit weird and scary. I get paranoid every time I got near him, especially now that Isabel is free from changes and it now taken out of jail. I have avoided her as much as possible. I would only approach his office when she is not around and I would look around cautiously before heading for the women's restroom. It's already five o' clock. Donna wants me to show up at six. I sigh before walking into Slade Wilson's office. It used to be Oliver' office. Not anymore, unfortunately. Luckily, Isabel wasn't there thank God. I couldn't leave the building without my boss knowing or without his permission. If I am not allowed to leave the building, I'm screwed. I have not spoken to Mr. Wilson since Miss Rochev's arrest, only a few times when I had to. But I would not interact with him, not matter how much he tries to get my attention.

I knock on the door frame first before entering his office. He was looking into the Q-Pad. I don't know what he's doing nor do I want to know what he's doing. I just want to get this over with and leave.

"Mr. Wilson."

He does not respond. I see what he's doing. Silent treatment. If I won't talk to him, he won't talk to me. How childish of him. Moving on Felicity.

"I'm actually leaving right now. I have evening plans today, so, I left a few things you wanted me to do on the desk - I mean, I left a few files for you on the desk you asked me to do. Right now, I have to go. Have a good evening."

I turned to leave but he stopped me on my tracks. "And what makes you think you're done working?"

"I've done my job. I'm simply asking permission to leave. If you don't want me to leave, that's all right. I'll just cancel out my evening plans," I say almost sternly. Don't get angry, Felicity. That's just what he wants.

"...With your mother, I suppose," he says without looking up from the Q-Pad.

"Yes..." I say. I was getting concerned now. He knows I have a mother. Now he knows I have evening plans with her. He's up to something. I know. When will he stop harassing me? How long will it be before he finally exposes Oliver before killing him? I know that he'll be using me to expose Oliver. But I won't give in. The problem is that he might use my mother against me. That is something I need to be concerned about.

"Does Oliver know about your mother?...Forgive me, your _aunt_. What _did_ happen to your mother, Miss Smoak?" he asked, finally looking up at me with a smirk. That on eye of his. It's freaking me out. But the way he was speaking to me, it was making my insides boil as my anger grew.

"Sorry to say this, but I don't think it's any of your business," I said to him almost sternly.

"Does Oliver know about your mother not _really_ being your mother? Does he know about your past Felicity Smoak?"

"...Have a good evening, Mr. Wilson."

"I did not say you could leave."

"...Sorry," I said darkly. "May I leave, please?"

"You may, yes."

Urgh. Monday is definitely a total _fuck you_ day. Yeah, I cursed and I don't give a shit. Fuck you, Slade.

I left Queens Consolidated and headed over to my car. The parking lot seems empty. Ther were still a few cars parked, including Slade's black car. It's a Lamborghini. Shit. That thing's expensive. Can't he use the money he spent on that car on charity instead? Jeez. It was tempting to write FUCK YOU on the windshield with my lipstick but I didn't want to give him a reason to call Detective Lance on me, so, I'll just leave it. Besides, why the hell was I thinking vandalizing my boss's car? That is so not me. I was searching for my keys through my purse but couldn't find them. Damn it. Where are my keys?

I suddenly hear footsteps. Loud footstep. I didn't hear the elevator open, so, it was not an employee leaving the building.

"Hello?" No one answered.

And I feel like I'm being watched and followed. I hurried to my car. Keys or no keys. I'm getting my car open one way or another. I try using the nail-file. It's stupid, I know. But something is better than nothing. The louder the footstep got, the more my hands were shaking. Unfortunately, the door wouldn't open. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, my instincts kicked in and I swung a fist to hit my stalker in the face only to have my wrist captured in a grasp. It was Slade. Part of me is glad that it was not my father but part of me is in trouble for almost punching Slade in the face. It wouldn't hurt him. It will just make him angry.

"You seem a bit peaked today, Miss Smoak." His grasp was really tight and I tried very hard not to show pain. Still...OW. OW. OW.

"Sorry...Can you let go, please? You're hurting my arm," I said. I shouldn't be apologizing to him though. He was the one who nearly scared the hell out of me.

He didn't move. He didn't make any moves to let go of my wrist. I was afraid he was going to break wrist or do something bad to me. To my surprise, he actually lets go. That's going to leave a bruise in the morning. I mentally sigh of relief.

"Are you all right?"

"What do you want?" Why did he follow me here? Then he showed me my car keys in his hands.

"You left these on your desk. I thought you might be looking for them."

I should slap myself in the face. I should have known I left my keys on my desk. Stupid again.

"I don't know what's wrong with me lately," I mumbled before snatching the keys from his hand. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I opened up the door with my found keys and sat in the driver's seat.

"I hope you don't tell anyone I almost punched you in the face. I mean, it was an accident. Well, it wasn't an accident because I really was going to punch you intentionally thinking you were someone else but since you're not that someone else, I sort of...I don't see why I'm still talking to you. Not that I don't want to talk to you. It's just that...No, I think that's it." I pursed my lips. Oops.

He chuckles darkly.

"And who is this someone if I must know Miss Smoak?" he asked.

"Like everything else, Mr. Wilson, I don't think it's any of your business," I keep telling him that. Maybe he'll back off.

"May I ask why? I understand that I must interfere into people's lives but I can tell that something is bothering you even before your current incident. Do I need to remind you that last week you were smashing your face against the windows in your sleep? Now why would you do such a thing, unless you are going completely mad."

"Why can't you just leave it alone? I don't need to talk to you about this." I felt my insides boiling. I'm getting very impatient with him right now. Why does he care?

"You do realize that if you don't tell me, I might investigate myself."

"Fuck off Colton!" I snap at him.

His eye widened at me when I said that. I was shocked as well. Did I really just say my father's name out loud? And did I just cursed at Slade?

"...I'm sorry, I have to go. I'm sorry."

"Miss Smoak -."

I quickly slammed the door closed and shoved the car key in the ignition. Slade kept knocking on my door but I refuse to open it. Once the car started I drove away as quickly as possible. Slade's right. Something _is_ wrong with me.

* * *

 _Slade's POV_

 _"Wade?"_

 _My brother was stabbing an old man in an alleyway. I stared in shock as Wade kept thrusting the knife into the old man's gut repeatedly, blood splattering onto his face and the old man pleading and crying out. I can remember exactly how many times Wade stabbed him. Afterwards, the old man dropped dead. Wade leans down and steals a wallet from the old man's beige jacket. Is that what it was all about? Over some fucking wallet. He turned around and he was surprised that I was standing right behind him. I stared at him in disbelief. My own brother was capable of murder._

 _His face turned stoic again as he hid the wallet in his black jacket while looking around for any witnesses before he brushes past me._

 _"Sorry you had to see that," he said, "Let's get out of here."_

 _We were walking down the sidewalk pass a few buildings. We were residing in the most dangerous part of Sydney. Wade likes it here because of the strip clubs. I'm not allowed to go in because I'm a minor. I'm still thirteen. I didn't want to go anyways. Luckily, it was nighttime and almost no one was around to hear us argue about what just happened back there in the alleyway._

 _"An old man, Wade! An old man! What the heck is wrong with you!?" I snapped at him. I kept getting in front of me. And I sometimes had to walk backwards because he wouldn't stop._

 _"Shut up," he muttered, "People can hear you."_

 _"What people? No one is here! It's nighttime! No one's here but the two of us walking!"_

 _"What do you want me to do, huh?" he finally stopped in his tracks. "We needed the money. Do you want to starve to death? Because I'll let you starve. Besides, I asked nicely. It's not like he had a whole life ahead of him. I practically did him a big favour."_

 _"Are you even listening to yourself?"_

 _"Loud and clear."_

 _"I know that you want money for us but does not mean you can't just go around stabbing people!" I waved my arms around in protest._

 _"Oh, really, and what are you going to do about it?" she shoved me backwards, "You gonna tell on me to the police. Do you what they'll do? They'll arrest me and then they're sending you back to Dad. Do you really want that?"_

 _I don't want to go home but I don't like it when Wade keeps blackmailing me about it. He may be older than me but I'm not a little kid anymore._

 _"...Fuck...you," I hissed before going opposite way my brother was going._

 _Hours later, my brother returned to the empty warehouse where we were living in secret. A building with boarded windows and door. We have to sneak through the basement to get inside the building. I lay down on the mattress looking up from the ceiling but when I heard him come in, I turn so my back was facing him. I don't even want to look at him. Does he even feel remorse for what he did?_

 _"Hey, Slade, listen. I'm sorry you had to see that. I didn't mean to kill that old man in front of you," he said._

 _"But you do not regret killing the old man," I said distastefully._

 _"I did what I had to do," he said, "I bought groceries."_

 _"You first went to the stripper club, then you bought groceries."_

 _"Listen, I need you to do me a favour," he said._

 _"What?" Suddenly, the wallet Wade stole from the the old man flopped next to my mattress. It was still stayed with blood._

 _"I need you to burn the wallet with everything inside it. I already have the money. You can get rid of the rest so the police won't find it on me."_

 _I opened up the wallet. There was the guy's credit card, license and ID. The name of the old man. Abraham Kane. There were also mini pictures. One was of an old man, probably his wife. The picture was him and his wife, and a little girl between them. She had brown hair and brown eyes. The last picture was of the little girl alone. She looks about a year younger than me. I take the photo from the wallet and flip it over where her name was written on the back. ADDIE._

* * *

 _"Fuck off, Colton!"_

That name Felicity mentioned, it made me curious of who it is. Whoever it was, it filled Felicity Smoak with hatred and feared. It must be someone she knew. I looked through the computer for the man Felicity mentioned involuntarily before driving away. I should have stopped her from leaving. I should have ripped the door out and pulled her out of the car. But my morality forbid me from doing so. My brother would have said "Morality? What morality?" But my brother never understood the true meaning of morality even if it kicked him in the ass.

COLTON.

There were plenty of names popping up on the screen. One of them was a boy named Colton Burpo, a four year old boy that came back from the dead and claimed he saw heaven. But I don't think Felicity was referring to _that_ Colton. It made me more curious. Who is Colton? Then I type in COLTON SMOAK. The picture of a man popped up on the screen along with a few newspapers articles. He was broad-shouldered, rough-looking with black hair and crow's foot in the outer corners of his eyes. He was giving an unnerving smile at the cameras as he was being dragged into a police station.

COLTON SMOAK. AGE 43. ARRESTED 24 TIMES. ATTEMPT OF MURDER. THEFT. 5 RAPES. 1 FAILED ATTEMPT OF RAPE. WIFE EVELYN SMOAK COMMITTED SUICIDE. 4 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER CALLS 9-1-1. CASE STILL IN INVESTIGATION. CASE NEVER SOLVED. COLTON SMOAK ROAMS FREE.

I see a picture of a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. That must have been Felicity's mother. Her real mother. She did not look like her aunt Donna. Another picture of a four-year-old Felicity Smoak appeared on one of the articles. She looks really sad, unlike the other photographs where she was smiling. This man. Colton Smoak. It's her father.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wilson," one of the security guards came into my office, an African-American. "There's a man up here. He just walked in without authorization."

"Unless he has a reason to be here, kick him out now," I told him. I will not have strangers walking in like it was their home.

"He says he's looking for executive assistant Felicity Smoak."

Hmm. To confirm my suspicions, I asked the security guard to let him in. And just as I suspected, it was Felicity's father, Colton Smoak. He looks a lot older than he looked in the photo. Of course, these articles were years go. And was also carrying a bag. Food from Big Belly Burgers. He seems a bit disappointed. Of course, Felicity is not here which is why he seems disappointed. Should I tell him where she is right now?

"Is there something you need?" I asked him. If this man is just as bad as the article says, I wouldn't want him in this building nor do I feel I want him near the executive assistant. If he is here to do harm towards Felicity, I will not allow it. No one will lay a hand on her except for me. I have already made that perfectly clear to Isabel after her failed attempt to kill her.

"I'm looking for Felicity Smoak," he said, "Is she around here?"

"She stepped out," I told him, "She won't come back until tomorrow."

"Oh. It was late, so, I thought I'd bring her dinner. I've brought her favorite. Do you know where she is right now so I can deliver it to her?" he asked.

I stood up from behind my desk and adjusted my bow tie. I try to be as civilized as I can as long as this man does not try to attack me. He will lose if he does anyways.

"I am unaware of her whereabouts," I am not lying to him. I know that she has evening plans with her aunt but I am unaware of her whereabouts. "You can come back tomorrow when she's at work if you wish."

"Well, I was hoping of talking to her in private at dinner. Do you know where she lives?"

I frown at him. I do not like this man at all.

"No," I lied. I almost never lie. But in this occasion, it is necessary.

The man frowned and pursed his lips.

"You can come back tomorrow if you like," I tell.

"...Very well."

Then, he left by escort. Once he left. The security guard came back to check on me. It is not necessary. I'm fine.

"Do not allow that man enter the building ever again, do we have an understanding?" I said and the guard nodded.

Felicity Smoak should be warned about this even if she doesn't wish to hear me out.

* * *

Felicity's POV

My mother never took me ice-skating. It was always Donna or my uncle Michael that took me ice-skating. I was a clumsy one in ice-skating though. I keep falling on my ass every now and then. And I think I'll have to change pants. Ice is made of water, you know. We laughed all the while. I love hanging out with Donna. Working for the Arrow is fun and all but it feels good to get away from it sometimes, spend some time with my family, or whatever is left of it. We were having milkshakes afterwards. I always like the chocolate milkshake while Donna liked the mango one. Ew. I never liked mango. It's just weird.

"So, what's he like?" she asked. Giving me _the look_. She always gave me that _"Is he your boyfriend?"_ look. I have to make it pretty clear that Oliver Queen is not my boyfriend.

"Oliver and I are just friends, Mom."

"No, not him," she said, "The guy that was in your apartment earlier. You know. Mr. Wilson?"

My eyes widened and I nearly choke on the shake. What? Donna thinks that Slade and I are - No! No! No! No! No! Nooooooooooo. That's never gonna happen ever. I rather be dead first than dating Slade Wilson. Just put a bullet in my head and that's it.

"No, Mom. No. Mr. Wilson and I are not dating. I already told you, he's my boss."

"Thank God then," he sighs of relief. Why is she relieved? Usually, she's be disappointed I don't have a boyfriend.

"What's that's supposed to mean? I'm a bit surprised you don't sound disappointed by me not having a boyfriend for once, not that it's not a good thing though," I say to her.

"Well, I'm just saying that he's a little bit, how do I put this nicely...scary. I mean, with the eye-patch and all, he looks like a pirate."

"Wow. I hope he never has to hear you saying that, Mom. He doesn't take offense quite lightly."

"It was a compliment. Does he get angry that easily?"

"You have no idea," I take another sip.

"You know, Felicity, you should really be careful with guys like him. Who knows if he'll be the next -."

"Oh, Mom, I really don't want to talk about that, especially right now that I'm enjoying my night off. Please don't ruin it for me."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean like that. All I'm trying to say is that I think he's too old for you. And people that are too old for you can be a real problem. That's all I'm saying."

"I'm a big girl, Mom. I know how to take care of myself, really."

"Hope you're right."

After we drank our milkshakes, we left the area. Donna had already called a cab and was going to head up back to her motel. I offered her a ride but she gratefully rejected my offer.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay without me tonight?" she asked with concern. The cab has already arrived and the driver seems a bit in a hurry to get out of here. The city is so impatient these days.

"I've had the flu before and I've taken care of myself. I think I can survive."

"Hey, lady, hurry the hell up! I got somewhere else to be!" the cab driver yelled out irritatingly.

"Hey, my daughter just came back from a coma, why don't you shut the hell up and give me a damn second!" Donna snapped back at him. And my eyes widened in surprise. Wow Mom. She stares at me with a smile. "These people treat you like they're from Vegas, you gotta act like you're from Vegas."

It's kind of true. There are some people that are very rude in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sometimes we have to yell to get things straight. Donna embraced me before entering the cab. As soon as she left, I headed back to my car. It was really cold and I clung my beige leather jacket around my body tightly. I have kept my hair down as well. For some reason, I was actually getting tired of wearing a ponytail. It was somehow giving me a headache.

As I walked past an alleyway, I realize I was being followed. There three thugs. Two white and one African-American. I don't know how I know. I just know. They were following and I doubt they want to ask me to prom. They kept whistling and calling me out. I ignored them as I picked up the pace. Keep going Felicity, keep going. Don't let them know you're running. Just go by a nearby store or someplace public where they won't follow you.

"Hey, where ya going?"

"Yeah, what's the hurry? Don't you want to hang out with us?"

You know what? Fuck it, I'm just gonna keep running. I ran as fast as I could and there came the chasing. Great. I'm so in trouble here. Where's Oliver when you need him right now?

I parked my car a few feet away from the ice-skating ring. Yeah, not the best idea. Hey, how am I supposed to know I'm going to be jumped? Jesus Christ, don't blame me for being human.

I ran and they keep chasing after me. Let's be honest, I'm not the fastest runner in the world. In other words, they were already catching up to me. When I got to my car, it was already too late.

One of them grabbed me. "Let go of me!" I yell out. I had already taken out my taser from my purse...What? I _have_ a taser. What makes you all think I don't have a taser in my purse? Anyway, I tased the African-American guy but I got slapped in the face by the other guy. I kicked him in the gut. But the third guy wouldn't let go. "Get off!" I yell. I can't see very well. I had dropped my glasses and there was a lot of struggling.

When I heard one of them take out a pocketknife, I shrieked. The men yelled out as I screamed and there were shattering sounds. The one that held me released me and they all dropped to the ground. It took only ten seconds before I stopped screaming. Wow. That was long...What just happened?

Where-where are my glasses? I squinted my eyes to see where they have fallen. Found them. They're right next to the front tires of my cars. I pick them up and slip them on. I wasn't prepared for what I saw though. The men that tried to assault me...they were on the floor unconscious with blood coming out of their ears. The windows from my car were shattered as well as the windows from a few buildings. I looked around in shock. Did I do that?

I quickly take out my phone from my purse and called Sara.

 _"Hello?"_

"Sara, it's me, Felicity. I need you right now. It's important."

 _"What's wrong?"_

"You need to see this. I don't know how to explain this, but I think I'm a meta-human." No shit, Sherlock.

 _"...Where are you?"_

* * *

 _ **Okay, guys, Chapter 9 is uploaded. I will take some time to write Chapter 10. But I can't really spoil things. All I can say is that things are going to end up bad in the next chapter. Ii hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review/comment down below. Ask me any questions you want to know about Black Smoak. I'm all ears and heart to every critic.**_


	10. Chapter 10: Testing

Chapter 10:

Felicity's POV

Sara arrived five minutes flat after giving her a call. She was already on patrol in her Canary suit when I called her. She arrived on a motorcycle. It must be kind of cool riding a motorcycle, except that I don't know how to ride one. When she arrived, she was surprised at what she saw around her. The unconscious thugs, the shattered windows on most buildings that were near us. It was like a bomb went off. Luckily, no one is around here to see the disaster I have caused.

"Whoa," she gasped in shock. "Did _you_ do this?"

"I-I think so," I stammered. I look down at the guys that were lying on the floor. I think I might have killed them. I don't know. "Are they dead by any chance?"

"Nah. They're still alive. You can see them breathing. But whatever you did to them, I think you blew their eardrums which is the reason why their bleeding from the ears."

This better not be like the Chris Evan's movie of _Push_ where these two Chinese guys were Bleeders, screaming until your ears bled out. It was a good movie though even if the plot didn't make sense to me.

"What happened?"

"I think I should explain this someplace more private," I said to her. She nodded and we bailed the area on her motorcycle before the cops, especially Detective Lance, showed up. I'm actually going to call a tow truck to pick up my car and have someone repair the windows I broke.

We ended up on the roof of an abandoned building near the coast of Starling City. It was 12: 30. No one is out here at this hour. Well, no one I know anyways. There was a broken mirror here on the roof which makes it the perfect target for what I have to show Sara. Either it was fate or it was a weird coincidence that the mirror was there. Either way, it's useful for me. The wind was cold and it made our hair whip around. I just want to get this over with. My throat is still a bit sore for what happened earlier.

"So, you're saying you turned into a meta-human?" she said. I nod, "Like Barry Allen?"

"Ye _p_." I said that with a pop.

"And do you have any proof of that?"

"Yep…Just watch," I say as I step in front of the cracked mirror. "Could you cover your ears?" And she did. That's when I let out a piercing scream and the mirror explodes.

Sara stares me and at the mirror and shock.

"Holy shit," she gasps. "How did you do that?"

"I simply screamed," I said, "I don't know it's making me break things. It's just does."

"Not to mention that you let three people deaf back there. How did this happen? When did this all start?" she asked.

"I think it started after I woke up from the coma. And the answer for how, I got shocked by Tockman, remember?"

"Yeah, but that does not explain how you ended up being a meta-human though," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She's right though. The shock does not explain why I ended up being a meta-human. I was not contaminated with anything. Last thing I remember is on hand on the computer while the other one was on…Oh boy.

"…The sonic device I was fixing for you," I sighed in realization, "My hands were on it when I got shocked. When Tockman made my computers explode, it must have triggered some sort of sonic blast that went through my entire body."

"So, my sonic device gave you powers? That's sort of weird…But very interesting at the same time," Sara said and she gave me a smile. I knew she'd understand. "Felicity Smoak is a meta-human. I'm just trying to ignore the fact how badass that is." Okay, maybe she understands a bit too well.

"Define badass." I don't see how blowing up things and leaving people deaf with my voice is considered badass. I could have actually killed them.

"Hey, does Oliver know about this yet?" she asks.

"God no. I barely even know what's happening to me. I just found out that the sonic device gave me powers through the blast. I can't tell Oliver if I don't know if what I have is dangerous or life-threatening."

"What about Diggle?"

"So far, you're the only one who knows about my secret. There's also the possibility that Caitlin and Cisco have to know about it as well since they work at S.T.A.R. Labs. They probably know what's going on. They already tested out Barry when he turned into a meta-human after he got struck by lightning. I can't tell Oliver about this until I'm sure that none of this is life-threatening. Please, promise me you won't tell anyone about this, not even Ollie. Please, promise me Sara." I said this while grabbing her on the shoulders and shaking her slightly. I was practically begging her.

"I promise. This is all _girl to girl_ thing going on. Ollie won't know about this until you feel it's the right time. So, when do you think you want to go to Central City to start the tests?"

"Tomorrow," I sigh again.

"Tomorrow? You mean, you're going to skip work tomorrow?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Ye _p_."

"You know they'll cut part of your salary for that, right?"

"I've had worse. Besides, I'll be calling in sick."

"What about Slade? He's your boss now in Queens Consolidated. He won't be happy to know you won't be working tomorrow."

"Slade is the least of my worries right now." I don't really care what Slade thinks. I actually don't really care if he chops my head off. He can try.

"Have you met the guy?"

"I practically live with the guy in Queens Consolidated, metaphorically speaking and not literally speaking. That just sounds a bit too inappropriate to say right now."

"No kidding," she droned. "So…what do you want to do now?"

"Go home and rest because I'm really tired and I need to get some sleep right now so I won't crash on the way to Central City."

"Sure…I'll give you a ride home." Yeah, right now I think my car is being towed. And I need rest.

* * *

Slade's POV

I woke up the next morning after feeling the sun in my face again. I hate when that happens. I must have forgotten to draw in the curtains last night. Isabel spent the night in my bed again. She lay at the other side of the bed, her back turned to me, curled up in a fetal position and the sheets wrapped around her body. I should have punished her by not fucking her for an entire month. That would definitely kill her. I know fully well that she cannot live an entire month without me fucking her. She'll go mad. The first thing she did after I bailed her out of jail was to beg me for forgiveness. I, unfortunately, responded this ridicule with a kiss on her hand and forgave her transgression. As I watch Isabel sleep, I would always imagine that it was Shado and not her. Sometimes, I would imagine it was Adeline. This time, I kept staring at a tuft of soft blonde hair and smooth pale skin, and would imagine Felicity lying there next to me. My smile would turn to a frown when I realize it is Isabel in my bed and disappointment floods over me.

Felicity Smoak. A very lovely creature. She is not like the other women. She is not like the whore of Sara Lance even if both of them were blonde. She is very intelligent, innocent, beautiful and resourceful though talkative and quirky. She would sometimes say things that are out of context and would try to correct herself, only to go out of context again. It is always amusing to watch her babble her way out of situations. It can be quite handy in some situations but in main situations like life and death, she cannot talk her way out. She will never talk her way out of what I have in store for her. She only has to say two words and perhaps she will live.

My cellphone on my nightstand begins to vibrate. I sit up and pick it up to see who it is. There is no name on the screen. It is an UNKNOWN caller. I answer it cautiously.

"Hello?" I spoke through the phone.

" _Um…Hello? Mr. Wilson_?" I recognize that voice. I am not surprised how she was able to obtain my phone number. I'm surprised she actually dared herself to call me, especially after what happened yesterday

"Miss Smoak. What a surprise to hear your voice? And what do I owe the pleasure?" I ask.

" _Hi…um…look I know that it's a bit too early for me to call at this hour―_."

"It's only 8 in the morning, Miss Smoak."

" _Sorry. I just assumed you were sleeping. Well, not that ― never mind. Listen, I need you to do me a favour if you can do that for me_ ," she said. But I can also hear her in the background, " _That is if he wants to do me a favour. I mean, he's my boss so he doesn't need to do me favours if doesn't want to_ ―."

"I can still hear you through the phone, Miss Smoak."

" _You can? Sorry. Um, listen, I need to ask you to give me a day off today_."

I frown in suspicion.

"Shouldn't you have made this call last night or before you left the office? Besides, why should I give you the day off?" I asked.

" _I have a doctor's appointment at 11 and I need to be there on time, so, I need to ask you to give me the day off today. The doctors want a thorough physical check-up to make sure I don't go into a sudden cardiac arrest again or something like that_." By the tone of her voice, I can tell she was lying. She's stammering more than she usually does. But how will she react if I say _no_ to her? " _I don't know. You tell me. You're the boss. Well, not ― Forget it. I'm just gonna shut up. Right now_."

"Well, I supposed I will let you have the day off, but I do expect an excuse documented on my desk by tomorrow, do you understand, Miss Smoak?"

" _Y-yes_."

"Good."

Isabel began to moan in her sleep. She was beginning to wake up. I hope she remains asleep. At least until I hang up the phone. If she finds out I am speaking to Felicity Smoak, I am unsure if I can take another of her fits. Isabel is a jealous type, and not one of the good ones.

" _What's that noise in the background?_ " I almost forgot that Felicity was still on the phone with me. She heard Isabel next to me. "… _You know what? Scratch the question. I don't want to know_." She said that so quickly that I almost didn't understand a word she said. Then, she hangs up the phone. She was upset or shocked. I can tell her voice was changing. Unfortunately, this could lead to some issues. Rumours would spread of my affair with co-CEO Isabel Rochev, not something I would want in my reputation. I do not want to be known as the man that fucks his co-workers every now and then. I am not Oliver Queen. I'm not my father. I'm not even my brother, especially _not_ my brother.

* * *

 _I asked for directions to Abraham Kane's house. I had watched the news at the mall after snatching a golden watch and removing the price tag and sensor. The old man was reported dead and the family of Abraham were devastated: an old lady named Genevieve Kane and her granddaughter Adeline Kane. Also nicknamed Addie. A pang of guilt kept stabbing me in the stomach. They never asked why when I asked where Abraham Kane's house was located. If they did, I would simply say that I have something that I borrowed from Addie, the girl from the picture I found in the old man's wallet. They simply gave me directions and I continued my way to the house I was directed to. It was on old row house that looked like it belonged in the 19_ _th_ _century with white chipping paint, paned lift-up windows, black shingle roof that looks like it could use a good clean up since there are a lot of dry leaves and bird nests inhabiting the gutters, and a brown door. Okay, this is creepy as hell. Who the hell would want to live in a place like this? Not me of course._

 _There was no guard dog or padlock, so I simply open the rusty gate and walk right in. I walk up to the steps to the front door and knocked three times. I waited for a minute. No one answered. There's a doorbell, stupid. Just ring the stupid doorbell. And I did. Again, no one answered. Maybe they're not home. Wade asked me to burn the wallet. But I refused. The guilt kept eating me alive for days. If I burn the wallet, it's just going to make me feel worse. The best thing I can do to get it out of my system is give back the wallet to the family of the deceased. Unfortunately, no one is home. So I just decided to turn and leave._

 _"_ _Hello?"_

 _I turn around. There stood Mr. Kane's granddaughter Adeline Kane, the one from the photo. She was a year younger than me. She was eleven and I was twelve. She had dark brown messy hair and dark brown eyes, and her skin was pale. She also had a Russian accent. Is she from Russia? Her last name does not sound Russian. She stared at me with a scrutinized gaze._

 _I know what she might be thinking. I wasn't really dressed for meeting the family of the deceased old man, just jeans, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket. I look like one of those outcast motorcycle bad boys you would see in movies. They say first impressions are very important. So far, I'm not making a good impression on Adeline Kane. She's pretty and I'm just a bit weird. Just a bit._

 _"_ _Who are you?" she asked skeptically in her Russian accent. My mother always told me that some Russian are extremely stern and strict. The last thing you should do is piss one off. At least, that's what she told me. I can't really judge._

 _"_ _Are you Adeline Kane?"_

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _Is your grandmother home?"_

 _"_ _Yes. She baking in the kitchen. What do you want? We're busy."_

 _"…_ _I have something that belongs to you and I thought you and your grandmother might want it back," I said as I quickly take out the old man's wallet from the pocket of my jacket and offered it to Adeline. I washed the blood stains from the brown leather before coming over here, not really wanting to freak her out. Looking in shock at me, she took the wallet from my hands and into hers. She opened it and looked at the contents. His credit cards, ID, photos and driver's license remained intact. The only thing that was missing was the money Wade took from the leather confinements._

 _"_ _This is my grandfather's. He had it with him the night he was murdered. The police could not find it with him." She said before looking up at me, "Where did you get it?"_

 _"_ _I found it behind the dumpster two days ago," I lied. I still couldn't get the image of my own brother stabbing the old man, blood splattering in his face. If I tell her who killed her grandfather, Wade will surely find out and she and her grandmother will die in the hands of my brother. I can't tell her what really happened to her grandfather._

 _"_ _You lie," she hissed at me, "…Did you kill my grandfather?"_

 _"_ _No. I swear I didn't kill him."_

 _"_ _But you know who killed him, don't you?" she asked. I shook my head, saying no. She doesn't believe me. "You are liar. You know who killed my grandfather." Can she really see right through me? "I can tell by the look of fear in your face." Okay, now I'm getting scared of her. I think I should get the hell out of here._

 _"_ _I'm sorry about your grandfather," I apologized, "I really can't help."_

 _"_ _Why won't you tell me who killed my grandfather?"_

 _"…_ _Trust me," I tell her as a warning, "If I tell you who killed your grandfather, you and your grandmother will surely be dead."_

 _"_ _Is that supposed to be a threat?" she asked me sternly._

 _"_ _No. It's a warning."_

 _I leave the premises of Adeline's home. She yelled out: "I'm not going to forget this, you know!" But I ignored her as I kept my way. If she is planning to find her grandfather's killer by herself than she has another thing coming._

* * *

Felicity's POV

Sara decided to give me a ride to Central City since my car was being towed at this moment. Great. Donna wanted to come with me after I gave her a call but I told her I would be fine. I am simply going to have a checkup and Sara is accompanying me. Yeah, _checkup_. She was planning of having us jog through Starling City Park today. So, she rescheduled it for the afternoon. Sara told Oliver and Diggle that I was going to a doctor's appointment. She didn't mention anything about my newly found abilities nor did she say _where_ we were going. Oliver and Diggle kept insisting that they should come with us. I know why. They were afraid that Slade or Isabel would make another move in attempts to kill me. I've already mentioned this to Diggle and I am going to mention it again. "If Slade wants to kill me, he can. And there's nothing you can do to stop him from doing that." Besides, he has other problems to face back at Queens Consolidated. Isabel is pissed with Oliver for skipping out of the board meeting of the investors after throwing a fit in the conference room, and she was threatening on firing him if he didn't apologized to the investors for his unruly behaviour the other week. Oliver refused to do it at first but Sara and I reminded him that working in a low position of his company is the only way he can be nearest to Slade. If he gets fired from the company, he will never know what he's planning. Eventually, Oliver gave in and accepted to go to QC to apologize to the investors for what happened at the conference room. Diggle offered to go but I told reminded him that he had to keep Mr. Green and Brawn under control and from going at Slade's neck without a plan of keeping his organs inside. I'll be fine…I hope.

Sara had a black Toyota. I sat in the passenger's seat and she sat in the driver's seat. We left at eight o' clock in the morning. The same hour I called my boss (if you can call him my boss) to excuse myself for not going to work today. To tell him I had a doctor's appointment today at 11, which we all know is total crap. I don't know if he believed me. I hope he did. Sara told me that Slade can tell when a person's lying or not. I hope he fell for it. Sara tried very hard not to laugh when I called Slade. She even pressed her hand to her mouth so he wouldn't hear her snickering. We feel like children sneaking out of our parent's house.

But what did make feel a bit uncomfortable was the noise in the background. I was aware Slade had recently woken up and I shouldn't have called so early, but hearing a woman moan in the background made my skin crawl. It was her. I know it. It was Isabel. He had been fucking her last night. I know it. Just knowing about this was making my insides boil furiously. The bitch tried to kill me, she was released from jail after payment and now Slade is fucking her again. I asked at first but as soon as I realized that I didn't really want to know what the noise was, I blew him off. I hung up and looked at Sara. She gave me a very shocked look.

"Wow, and I thought Oliver was a horny guy," she said.

"Not helping, Sara," I gritted my teeth.

"Please don't tell me you're jealous. Because it would be really creepy if you're jealous of Slade having someone in his bed."

Me? Jealous? Hello no! I am not jealous. Why would I ever be jealous? I hate Slade. He and Isabel are the reason Oliver lost his mother and the company. He's practically losing everything. Verdant was even shut down. We had to find another way to enter the foundry without raising any suspicion from Slade, Isabel or any other of his minions. I am not jealous. I don't even like Slade.

"No. I just think he should go someplace private so I won't hear him having sex if he's going to answer my phone calls."

"Yeah, that would be kind of gross," she says.

I, unfortunately, had sometimes heard my parents having sex in the bedroom next door, my mother moaning, my father grunting and the mattress creaking repeatedly. I sometimes had to place a pillow over my head to block out the sounds and get some sleep. It's disturbing.

We made to Central City at 10 in the morning. It wasn't that long of a drive. But it was still exhausting. Our first stop was Big Belly's Burger where I bought my bacon n' cheese burger while Sara bought a chilly cheese-stake. The best burgers are in Gotham where billionaire Bruce Wayne lives but this should do. It felt good being away from Starling City, a change of atmosphere and away from all the tension I felt at home. It felt throwing off my backpack after so many hours of school. After eating lunch, we headed directly for S.T.A.R. Labs immediately as possible. I had to called Cisco and Caitlin first before coming over here just in case they were too busy to attend me, with the Mirakuru and Barry having his powers and all. I didn't exactly tell them what happened to me, because it was too difficult for me to describe, but as soon as they heard the word _strange_ they went all Work Mode and urged me to come to Central City immediately to do a few tests on me. Blood test. Physical tests….Urine tests. Ew. I hope Caity doesn't make me pee in a cup because that is just gross.

They have not mentioned my situation to Dr. Harrison Wells, the man in the wheel chair who's in charge of S.T.A.R. Labs. He was too busy working on a few situations with Detective Joe West about a meta-human that has the ability to manipulate the weather. They're doing these tests without Dr. Wells' permission. If Dr. Wells finds out that Cisco and Caitlin doing tests on me with permission, he's going to run us over with that wheelchair of his. I'll just pretend I never saw them.

When we entered S.T.A.R. Labs, Caitlyn received me with and embrace, glad that I was alive and feeling better. Cisco technically threw himself onto me. Of course, Sara wasn't the kind of person for hugging strangers since she has never met them before, so, they simply shook hands. Caitlyn wouldn't stop staring up and down on me.

"You look different," she said. Is that supposed to be a good compliment or a bad compliment?

"I feel different."

"You, um, let your hair down," she said.

"Are you guys really used to seeing me in a ponytail?" I asked.

"Yes!" Caitlyn, Sara and Cisco exclaimed together which made me jump a little.

"…Oookaay. Listen, all I want to know is how this all happened and if it has any side effects that can cause life-threatening consequences. So, can we get the test started, please?"

"Sure," Caitlyn said, "but first let's get you out of those clothes."

She guided me to the bathroom where I would change into a hospital gown yet again. I feel like I'm going to the hospital again except that I'm surround by the best people in S.T.A.R. Labs and not by cold doctors that do not know how to do their right. Caitlyn says they should be fired from their work place for negligence. I think so as well.

They place me in a machine that was identical to an MRI. I had to remove my earrings, glasses, my bra and watch or anything that can be made of metal can that disrupt the test. I feel like I'm in a damn cocoon here, only there's a beam of green light going up and down my body and head, blinding me. I'm not really scared. It just feels weird. When the scanning was over, I got a "Holy shit," from Cisco, a "Wow" from Sara and an "Oh my God" from Caitly. I got out of the MRI thingy and entered the other room where the guys were watching me the whole time through a one-way glass window. When I asked what was going on, Cisco began to talk about my vocal chords, the electrocution and my brain which I don't know what my brain has to do with it. He showed me a picture of my brain through a monitor where it's all black and white but in this case, one part of my brain was in colours which is the side way view.

"You see the affected areas?" he asked, pointing a wooden pencil at the monitor.

"Yeah. The brocas. The pons, medulla, premotor cortex, FMC, Wernicke and the spinal chord," I said.

"What does that all mean?" Sara asked with her arms crossed. Of course she doesn't know much about science as much as I do.

"Those are parts of my brain that are the main reason why I can speak, scream and have words coming out of my mouth," I tell her.

"You said you were electrocuted by William Tockman, right?" Caitlyn asked. "Well, instead of the shock going down all over the nervous system of your body, it went directly up to your brain."

"Where did it start?" I ask.

"Right here," she said, grabbing my index finger, "If you had not noticed, this part is still a bit burned which indicates where the shock entered and it went its way up to your arm but instead of spreading all over your nervous system, it went straight for the brain."

"It doesn't really explain how it only affected the vocal areas of the brain and not the entire thing," I said.

"It's a bit strange too," Cisco said, "Usually, the shock Tockman gave you should have affected your entire brain and also your entire body. Do you know how many volts that one small shock contained? A lot."

"Uh-huh, meaning…"

"You were supposed to die five seconds flat after that," Caitlyn explain. Sara and I looked at her in shock, "What just happened to you…was a miracle. It's incredible."

"Instead of the shock shut down your brain completely, it expanded it up more, especially the vocal areas," Cisco continued.

"…Felicity had more than three cardiac arrests in the hospital," Sara intervened in the conversation. "Why did she shut down so many times if you say that the shock expanded her brain?"

"I saw this movie once," Caitlyn began to explain, "Where this kid got beaten up a bunch of times in the head where he got a brain injury. When his brain was repairing by itself, he convulsed a lot. In Felicity's case, the brain was still getting accustomed to the changes from the shock and would shut down ever once and awhile. Still, it was good having the doctors giving you electric shocks because if your brain and heart doesn't come back up, you're surely to be dead right now."

"Urgh. My head hurts," Sara groans in frustration as she pressed a hand to her temple. Yeah, my head hurts too. This is too much for me to swallow. I could have died that night. Instead, I'm going all _banshee_ at people.

"This really explains why I'm screaming louder than usual," I said.

"What?" Caitlyn and Cisco both asked in confusion. Yeah, I almost forgot they don't really know what I can do. I should probably show them.

I asked Cisco to place me in the training area with mirror surrounding me, and he did as asked. I also told him that he, Caitlyn and Sara should wear earplugs. Cisco place electrodes to my throat to monitor the whole thing. They didn't know why I asked them to wear earplugs (except Sara) but they did as told and they stood a safe distance away from where I stood. Good. I don't want them too close to what I have to show them.

"Okay, Felicity, what is that you have to show us?"

"This," I sighed before I shrieked for the fourth time and all the mirrors surrounding me exploded all at once, shiny shards falling to floor like rain. I covered my head and face with my arms with the fear of being struck by one. When I look up, all the mirrors were broken. But not just the mirrors, the windows in the room we were in had also shattered. Sara, Cisco and Caitlyn stared at me in shock at what have I just done. I'm a little bit shocked as well. I didn't know I can do so much damage just by screaming. Wow. And to be honest, it felt really good. It feels like release of tension. I sigh in exhaustion. It felt incredible even if my throat was sore now.

"Oh my God!" Caitlyn exclaimed excitedly.

"That was awesome!" Cisco exclaimed and he looks down at the monitor, "Holy shit. Caitlyn, look at this!"

"What?"

"Okay, listen. Usually, the vocal folds from normal human opens up half-way. Felicity's vocal folds opened up completely."

"Whoa," she gasped.

I asked Cisco how powerful this way. He said that it was powerful enough to break down an entire coliseum. He said I can also break down the Olympic Games. That strong? I asked if there were any side effects to my new abilities. He said that besides leaving people deaf and having my throat sore out, there are no side effects so far. He also said that he and Caitlyn would need to do more tests and train my abilities to keep them from going out of control. I would have to come here every Friday for more tests. Great. Just great. How am I going to tell this to Oliver? More importantly, how will I keep Slade from finding out about me, knowing that he could use this information against me?

* * *

Rachel's POV.

It's a bit boring here in the orphanage. There is no one here to play with. No one here knows how to play chess. What a bunch of idiots. I was forced to come outside for fresh air as recommendation from the caretaker. Felicity knows how to play chess. I hope we can see each other again. It's not even Saturday yet and I really want to get out of the dump. I want to be with Felicity Smoak. She's my friend. And she can possibly be my new mother. My real mother is dead. And I have high hopes that Father does not find me. He is evil. But I am not. I used to think I am evil because of who my father is but Felicity taught me that I am not evil. I am not.

I know many things about Felicity, about how we are much alike than she thinks. Her mother is dead and her father is still out there, searching for her and wanting to kill her. I know this. I saw it all in her mind. Blood. Anger. Sadness. Death. Guilt. Blades. Tears. It's a recipe for a darkened soul. I can clear her mind as much as she clears mind. She also promised me to take me to try a hamburger. Hey, I'm only six. I have desires too.

I sense a presence near the orphanage, an unknown presence. I was reading _Alice in Wonderland_ by Lewis Carroll. I look up from my book and noticed a tall man standing behind the black gates of the orphanage. He was tall and looked like in his late fifties with dark hair and eyes, crow's foot on the outer corners of my eyes, his face sort of looked like wrinkled leather and scruff of beard on his chin. He was wearing a black coat which made him look scary. He grinned at me, a very disturbing grin. I stared at him emotionlessly, holding my book to my chest. The other kids didn't seem to notice him. They were too busy playing. I stared at him attentively. He waved at me slowly. He was wearing black gloves. His smile was like the Cheshire cat. I did not like it nor did I wave back at the man. He gestured me to come closer. But I stayed seated where I was, on the staircase that leads up to the door of the orphanage. I refused to go to him. He is a stranger. I do not know him. When I refused to move, the man took out something his coat pocket. It was a little Raggedy Ann doll.

When I saw the Raggedy Ann doll in his hands, flashes of a little girl of four years of age hiding under the bed and clutching that exact doll came up in my mind. I also heard two people arguing violently in my mind. I know where that doll came from and whom it belonged to. This man believes he can persuade me by showing me a pretty Raggedy Ann doll. I may six years old, and I may be a child but I am not stupid.

I calmly stood up from the staircase and went back inside the orphanage where I would no longer look at the man standing outside the orphanage behind the black gates, sensing disappointment radiating from him. He wanted to take me away. I do not know who this man is. But I believe Felicity knows who it is.

* * *

Slade's POV.

Oliver came to Queens Consolidated. He was forced to apologize to the investors for his unruly behaviour as requested by Isabel. He apologized to Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer, Lex Luthor and Arthur Light. He was also forced to apologize to me and Isabel. Either this was a sign of him giving into defeat or it was something he had planned to remain in the company to keep an eye on me. I know everything that goes on in his little mind even if I do not have the ability to do so. It is written all over his face. The resistance of expressing anger towards me for selling out his company to different investors. I will still remain the CEO of Queens Consolidated but it will be owned by separate companies, his competitions. I tried very hard not to laugh at the thought of Oliver Queen after to work for others instead of having others work for him was simply too delightful to not enjoy. I had two more glasses of rum. I would need two more bottles to be drunk no thanks to the Mirakuru. The only advantage of the Mirakuru is the regeneration and opening up my mind to use 95% of my brain capacity.

After Oliver Queen apologized to me and Isabel, the investors left, and he asked:

"Is there anything else you need?" He asked. Yes, there is something I need.

"…Felicity Smoak," I said her name. I actually enjoy the mention of her name. Mentioning it to Oliver made him feel tense with anxiety and it also made Isabel exchange a glare at me. She did not seem to like it when I mention Felicity's name. "Where is she?" I asked. When I came here to the company, she was not on her desk. I am actually used to seeing her here, sitting behind her desk, typing her way through the computer and the sun shining one her golden her. Very lovely. Her desk was empty though. She had called me to give me a doctor excuse but I know she had been lying to me.

"She said she was going to the doctors today," he told me, "She didn't really give me any details."

"Nor did she ever tell where she was going, I believe."

"I don't think it's any of your business," he tells me.

"Hmm. It seems now I realize where is getting her stubbornness. You do realize that she never went to a doctor," I tell him. He stare at me nearly dumbfounded. I have made a bit research of my own. I hacked into every computer of every doctor, every hospital and every pediatrician. Felicity Smoak has made no appointment to any doctor. Just as I suspected, she lied to me. I don't know where she was going. I am not one to be fooled, Miss Smoak. It seems that Oliver did not know where is either. "When you see Miss Smoak, you might want to ask her a few questions. I will also have her questioned once she returns."

"If you try to place a hand on her ―."

"You'll what? Kill me? You can't. At least, not without witnesses. Besides, Felicity Smoak is a link to you as well Sara. Any harm I do to them, will reflect on you. I will make sure you are punished for Shado's death, even if it means harming the most innocent one of the team." He knows that I mean Felicity. "She is quite lovely, have you realized it? So innocent, almost fragile really. Because of you, she might face the consequences of your actions."

"I swear I'll kill you if you hurt any of them, you psychopath," he growled at me.

"Good luck with that," I smile at him. He stomped out of my office in anger. I chuckled with amusement. He didn't know. He does not know what I have planned for her. My plan is soon to be placed in motion. He will know what I have done to his Felicity. I will make sure he watches her scream in pain.

Isabel then asked me when we will place our plan into motion. Looking at her with a smile across my face as I say to her: "Tonight." And kissed her on the hand. Forgive me, Miss Smoak. This is not personal. Perhaps it is. But not towards you.

* * *

 _Felicity's POV_

 _"_ _Hey, kiddo, what you're doing?" my father came home from work. I was sitting on the floor of the living room in front of the TV which was turned off. I was doing my Math homework Mrs. Renolds told us students to do. Math was becoming easy for me. I already learned how to multiply even I was still in kindergarten. My teacher had told my mother that I was a very gifted student._

 _My father had taken off his jacket and tossed it on the floor. Mom didn't like it when my father threw stuff on the floor because he never bothers to pick them up afterwards. He sat on the sofa. I look up at him and said:_

 _"_ _Homework," I told him. He made a face in distaste._

 _"_ _Urgh. I hate homework. It must be boring for you, right?" he asked. I shook my head._

 _"_ _No. I think its fun. Well, a lot fun than sitting at home doing nothing. It's boring in here."_

 _"_ _Boring? Hhmm... Why don't you sit here on my lap and show me what you're doing there?"_

 _As a little girl, I didn't know better. I didn't know why my father want to see my Math homework since he was an adult and already knew this stuff. I suspected he wanted to help me, so, I sat on his lap and he embraced me tightly._

 _"_ _So, what are you learning now?" he asked._

 _"_ _Multiplications," I said to him. He looked at me in surprised._

 _"_ _Those are big words, Felly," he said. I asked him if he want to help me with my homework. He said that it's easy. That's when my Mom entered the living room. She didn't look too happy. I knew they were going to argue again and I quickly slid off my father's lap._

 _"_ _Did you have a nice day, honey?" she asked. I nodded. She gave me a small smile. "Good. Why don't you go upstairs and finish your homework while your father and I talk down here?"_

 _"_ _Okay, Mommy," I nodded before grabbing my red backpack and homework, and going upstairs to my room._

 _Even up here, I could hear them arguing. I had to press my ears against the floorboards to listen to what they were saying._

 _"_ _You will not touch her like that again," she snapped at my father._

 _"_ _Like what?" he asked. I had wondered the same question._

 _"_ _You know what! You don't think I haven't been watching!? I saw your hand going for that little girl's thigh. You will not touch her like that again, sicko! In fact, you will be touching her at all. If you touch her again or you ever try to place a hand on her again, I'm calling the police."_

 _I didn't know my father wanted to do me harm. I was so little. Now I know better than to trust him._

* * *

"So, how was your appointment?" Donna asked as we were both jogging down the concrete paths through Starling City Park. I have kept my promise and accompanied her on jogging even if it was a bit late for us to be out here. It was about 5:57 p.m. The sun was already going down and hiding behind the building, leaving the sky in hues of orange and pink and the sky was already becoming dark blue. Most of the people that were in the park had already gone. Only two or three were around. Donna and I were jogging by ourselves. She was wearing a blue tank top and black spandex pants, and white Nike sneakers with her blonde her tied up in a ponytail, her sweaty bangs stuck to her forehead. I was sweaty as well. I was hearing a pink tank top with black thin sleeves, and black spandex pants, and the same sneakers my aunt wore except they were black. I couldn't tie my hair in a ponytail. It was giving me a headache. So, I clipped it in a loose ponytail so it would hurt me.

"It was fine," I panted. I was lying, of course. I didn't go to the hospital. "The doctors said that I was going to have a headache for a while but nothing serious. They gave me some aspirin and Advil for the headaches and they recommended for me to rest."

"Huh. Those doctors don't even know where to put their shit," she hissed at the mention of it. "I'm just glad you're feeling better."

Donna and I were jogging for more than two miles, and my legs were becoming jelly. When I told my mother that I was getting tired, we decided to go back home and rest. We left our water bottles there. We wanted to take them with us but we knew it would be a burden carrying them around. We did have one of those belts you out around your waist where you can hook the water bottles. I should get one of those so I won't have to leave the bottle at home. Anyways, Donna jogged away from Starling City Park and jogged our way home. It was already getting dark and didn't want to get jumped by thugs like the night before. Also, I heard there was a serial killer hiding in Starling City Park at night, snatching young women to rape and kill them. Oliver and Diggle were still on the case, trying to figure out who this sicko is. So far, this guy has a fetish for young female joggers, and I don't want Donna or me being the next victims.

We returned home at 6: 20 and it was already dark. The lampposts were already lit, illuminating the streets and sidewalks with yellow light. The key to my apartment was hiding above the doorframe. Last time, I kept it under the rug until a neighbour told me she had her key under the rug when her apartment got broken in and they stole everything. So, I'm trying to keep my key hidden as well as possible. I unlock the door and we entered.

"I'm exhausted!" Donna exclaimed as he slumped on the sofa, "That was a long run. But I needed that."

"So did I." The bottle were still on the kitchen counter where I had left it with the ice melting inside. I took one in my hands and tossed it at Donna. She caught it and opened the cap. "I had fun though." I opened up the bottle and took a big gulp of cold water. It felt refreshing after almost two hours of running. I felt like I was in some marathon.

"Yeah, me too," she sigh, "Hey, I was thinking that maybe we could go to the movies tomorrow night. You know, I want to watch this awesome movie that came up directed by Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican director of _Pan's Labyrinth_. It might be really cool to go. You always liked scary movies."

"Oh, but Mom, I have work tomorrow at the company and I've already gave Slade enough excuses to have me fired for bailing work," I told her.

"Did you gave him a call?" she asked.

"Yeah, but he wants it all documented on paper on his desk by tomorrow or else he's going to have me suspended from my job. He doesn't take my excuses very lightly, Mom."

"Ah. But I only have a week left till I go back to Las Vegas," she says in disappointment.

"I know, Mom. I know. And I really want to spend time with you…I'll just see what I can do. But I can't make any promises, okay?"

"Okay," she said before taking a large gulp from her bottle and sighs.

I need to take a bath. I smell like sweat and I hate the smell of stinky sweat. I need a cold bath because it's hot today.

"I'm going to take a shower," I tell her.

"Okay, baby."

I go to the bathroom and shut the door. I already had my pajamas set folded on the toilet seat in square shapes where I would change after taking a shower. I on the showerhead, waiting for the bathtub to fill up a bit. It's only a shower. I don't want to swim in my own filth, just my feet. If anything happens that'll cause me to fall, I'll just hold on to the towel holder. I'm so tired after today. All I want to do is shower, lie down on the bed and sleep. I have not had a nightmare in a few days after waking up from the coma. I felt relieved.

I release my hair from the clipping, letting them fall over my shoulders and I look at myself in the hand mirror since the mirror from the cabinet is shattered no thanks to my new abilities. I really look different. Cisco, Sara and Caitlyn were right. All of this has changed me. I may physically look the same but there was something different in my eyes, I don't know what it is.

Suddenly I heard Donna scream on the top of my lungs.

"Mom!? Mom!" I yell as I opened the door of my bathroom, only to find a tall man wearing a beige jacket and a Deathstroke mask standing in the middle of the doorway. I gasp in shock.

"Hello, Felicity Smoak," he said in a deep raspy voice, "Mr. Wilson asks for your presence."

I wanted to use my abilities and send this guy flying through a wall with my screams so I can get to Donna but before I could do so, the man pressed a cloth to my nose and mouth and I passed at the smell of chloroform.

* * *

 **Okay, everyone, this is Chapter 10 of Black Smoak. For me, it was a bit long to write but it was worth it. You all saw what Rachel saw and what was happening there. That part was just damn creepy to write. Still I hope you liked it. I also thought that the part of Slade meeting his wife Adeline for the first time after his brother stabbed her grandfather was something that would be very interesting to write since no one knew what his childhood was like before he ended up in Lian Yu in the Arrow show, so, basically the whole childhood he had in this story is completely made up. So, don't try to look for Slade's childhood in Arrow on the Wikia because you ain't gonna find it because it does not exist. This is all in my imaginative theory.**

 **Have you guys watched Animal Planet? Do you all know what happens when the Momma Bear tries to protect his cubs from predators? Well, you all gonna see what happens Slade tries to mess when he threatens Felicity with her aunt/mother. Hope ya like this chapter and leave of review of what you think of Chapter 10. Thank you so much.**


	11. Chapter 11: Capture

Chapter 11: Captured

Sara's POV

"Hey, Laurel, I'm going to see Felicity," I told my sister through the phone as I parked my motorcycle near her apartment, "I brought her a DVD. Maybe she might feel better watching it."

" _Didn't you already spend time with her all day? I'd be careful if I were you. Better not let Oliver gets jealous_."

"Nah. Ollie wouldn't be jealous. If he actually thought I was hitting one Felicity, he'd be finding another girl to fuck. The only person you'd need to worry about is Nyssa. If she ever found out I was with another woman, she would slice my throat open. You want to join us? I didn't actually call her though, I'm simply walking in." I chuckled. It's true though. Nyssa is totally the jealous type. She didn't like seeing me with other women or men. When she found out I still had a thing for Ollie, she technically wanted to slice his head from his shoulders.

" _I think I'll pass. If you just walk in to an apartment and make her mad, that's your problem. I don't want to get involved in it. Besides, Dad fell down the stairs this afternoon and twisted his ankle. I'm in the hospital right now to see if it's broken._ " I don't know if Felicity can even do angry.

"Oh...Wait, hold on a sec, Laurel."

I notice something odd as I walk up to the front of Felicity's apartment. The door was open and the lock was broken. I slowly push open the door. Yeah...not good. Coffe table turned over. The sofa is a mess. The bathroom door was open. And there were a few stains of blood on the pink-cream-and-green carpet. Either Felicity had a party in here and didn't invite me or she and her aunt just got captured. I'm going to have to go with option B. And my guess is that Slade is the one who kidnapped them. Oh shit. This is so not good. Time to call Oliver for help before something bad happens to them.

"I have to go, Laurel. I'll call you later," I said before hanging up on her and dialing up Oliver's number.

* * *

Felicity's POV

I opened up my eyes but I could see nothing black everywhere. I breathed heavily as I looked around the darkness. There were lights on but I could not anything. I think I had a black sackcloth covering over my head, keeping me from seeing anything. I struggled to get up but my wrists were tied behind my back as well as my upper arms and my ankles. I was tied to a chair. I can hear people talking around me. Men. I try to focus. I was still being affected by the chloroform. How many men were there? 5. That's how many men are in here. I could also hear dripping sound along with electrical buzzing. I tried to gain my composure as the cloth was removed from my head. Who were they? I still couldn't see very well. It was a bit blurry. I didn't have my glasses on. I can't see very well. All I could see are black and orange blobs walking around. Another figure sat in front of me, a blue blob with the same black cloth I have had over my head. It's Donna. I know it is. She is always wearing blue.

"…Mom," I tried calling but only a croak came out. Another figure came into view, crouching right in front of me. Black and orange. Either it's Slade in that Deathstroke costume or is it another of his minions. He's blocking my view of Donna. I need to see her. I need to make sure she's all right even I can't see her well.

"Remain still, Miss Smoak, so I won't poke you in those lovely eyes of yours." Once I heard the deep Australian voice, I knew it was him. He did this. What does he want?

My vision soon came into focus when he slid my glasses on and I could see the black and orange mask more clearly now. He tilted his head as he continued to stare at me. I tried to look over him to see Donna but his built was too large for me to stretch my neck, without thinking the consequences of him slicing my neck in the act.

"...My mother..." I managed to say.

"Do not worry Miss Smoak, she's fine. She'll stay alive as long as you do exactly as I say."

"...Let me see her...Please."

"Of course."

He stepped aside so I can get a clear view of my mother. She was still wearing the exercise uniform she was wearing before except that it had a few stains of blood on it. She was tied into a chair as I was, and is wearing the black sackcloth over her head. I can't see her face. I need to see if she is really alive.

"Take off the sackcloth. I want to see her face...Please," I whimpered. I tried using Oliver's technique on squeezing my hands through the ropes but he did mention that Slade taught him that trick. So, everything that Oliver taught me was taught by Slade and he knows every move. I can't get out of the ropes. Slade gave me a look of skepticism. "If you don't take off the sackcloth so I can see her face, I won't do what you say no matter how bad the torture is."

He still kept staring at me. It made me uneasy. Then, he stood up straight and walked over to the chair where Donna was tied. Please don't hurt her. Please don't hurt her. If he hurts her, he's a dead man. I don't care if I did trying. He's a dead man.

Slade removes the sackcloth from her head. Donna was semi-conscious and breathing heavily with tears streaming down her eyes. There was blood staining her mouth and nose, indicating they punched her in the face to knock her out before bringing us here while they used chloroform on _me_. She raised her head and groaned. She was beginning to wake and when she did, she became agitated. She looked around fearfully, her eyes bulging wildly and hyperventilating. Then, she looked at me.

"Felicity! Felicity, my baby! Are you okay!?" she cried.

"Mom. Mom, I'm fine. Please, please, calm down! Everything's going to be okay!" I begged her. I need her to keep quiet. Anything she does or say can make Slade angry and kill her.

"You should listen to your daughter, Mrs. Smoak." He places a hand on my shoulder. Somehow this situation reminds me when I got captured by Count Vertigo and I do not like it at all. "Besides, no harm will come to any of you as long as your daughter does everything I tell her to do."

I watched a few of his minions set up a camera next to my mother, pointing at me and Slade. There were also spotlights set up at either side of us, making buzzing noises. Oh, so that's what that noise is? What is going to do? What does he want me to do?

"Now, love, you're going to perform well tonight. If you say the lines correctly, you and your mother will go free. Do you understand?"

What choice do I have? I'm tied to a fucking chair and I can't squeeze through the ropes. I could use the sonic scream to subdue him but I'm not ready yet. Besides, what am I going to do afterwards, just sit here and wait for Oliver to find us or wait till Slade and his minions get up again and give him another reason to kill me and Donna. No fucking way. Either way, he already wins. I simply nod in agreement.

"Good."

"What you want me to say?"

He moves behind me and places both of his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs brushing against my back and making me shake. The camera focused mainly on me and I noticed the red light on the camera going on and off. It's recording.

"This video will be played all over Starling City. Everyone will be watching you. Now, I need to say those two little words to everyone in the city."

I bet I know what he wants me to say.

"Now, tell everyone who the Arrow is."

* * *

Oliver's POV

"Why would Slade capture Felicity?" I asked Sara once she came down here 5 minutes later after giving me a call. She told me what happened. She told me of how Slade broke into Felicity's apartment and took Felicity. She told me that the door was broken open and the apartment was a mess. I told Sara to get a hold of Felicity's mother (or aunt) but she told me that she wouldn't answer her phone. It seems that Slade captured Felicity's mother as well. Why would he capture Donna Smoak as well?

"I think it's obvious," Diggle sighs in frustration, "Slade knows that Felicity works for the Arrow and she knows who the Arrow is. Why else would he capture her?"

"Slade also took Donna," I said, "Why would he take Felicity's mom?"

"Remember when Nyssa captured my mother in order to get me to go back with her?" Sara mentioned. Yeah, she drank poison. I hope she never does that again. "The same thing Slade is doing. He's probably using Donna as influence for whatever plan Slade has for Felicity."

If Felicity doesn't do what Slade says, he'll kill Donna right in front of her just like he killed my mother in front of me and Thea. I can't let this happen. We have to find Felicity and fast. We can't let him hurt them.

"Where did Slade take Felicity and Donna?" I asked Sara.

"Do I look like a psychic to you?" Sara asked me with her arms crossed. Not the time right now to argue. Not the time right now. "There are security cameras recording outside Felicity's apartment. They might have recording the moment Felicity and Donna got captured by Slade."

"Diggle, try hacking into the security cameras and check the recordings," I told him. He nods before going to Felicity's spare computer after the others got fried by William Tockman. She was still trying to repair them. Diggle was typing in through the keyboard, the screen turning black and green numbers flaring through the screen until Felicity's apartment popped up. The camera would change angle every five seconds to Felicity's apartment to the sidewalk and the road. It's been only 30 minutes since Felicity's capture. "Rewind the recording to 32 minutes."

Diggle did so but when he did, it only showed a few moments of her apartment and the road before one of Slade's minions appeared in front of the camera and everything went into static. The picture came into view 30 seconds later. It took the minions 30 seconds to take Felicity and Donna from the apartment before setting the camera again. Great. Now what?

"Hey, guys, wait a sec. I think I saw something," Diggle said, "The camera pointed up at a black van in the middle of the road for at least five seconds before it turned away."

"That van was not there when I arrived," Sara said.

"It wasn't there either when the camera came back on," he said, "That's probably the transportation Felicity and Donna were taken to."

"Can you identify the model and licence plate?" I asked.

"It's a black Ford Transit van sold in the UK. I imagine Slade bought it," he said.

"Can you identify the license plate?"

"I'm zooming in on the licence plate and trying to depixelate it. The van's parked sideways. I can't seem to get a good view of it."

"How many Ford Transit vans are here in Starling City?"

"So far I've never seen one before in Starling City."

"Then, there's only one Ford Transit in Starling City. It shouldn't be too hard to find except for the fact that it's black. Typical," Sara scoffed.

"Where would they take her?" Diggle asked in concern.

"I don't know but I know someone who knows."

* * *

Felicity's POV

Okay. Let me get this straight. Donna and I got captured. We're both tied to chair. And Slade is going to kill Donna right in front of me if I don't tell Starling City who the Arrow is. He wants me to expose Oliver as the Arrow to the entire city. I'm sensing a bit of a _de ja vu_ here right now for some reason. And I don't seem to find a way out of this mess without getting Donna hurt. I try again by squeezing hand through the rope. I grit my teeth as I felt the rope graze against the skin of my hand. How small does my hand have to be to fit through the rope? Am I really willing to break bones in order to slip out of the ropes? Better trying than dying?

"Now, I need you to say it. Who is the Arrow?"

I heard one of the bones of my hand crack and I tried very hard not to scream in pain, not wanting to Slade notice what I was doing. God. That hurts.

"You really are a psycho, you know that?" I hiss at him. One of his minions slapped Donna in the face and she yelps in pain. "Mom!"

"I'm fine, sweetheart. I'm fine." She tried to assure me but she was scared herself.

"Please, just let her go! You already got me. You didn't need to bring her into this. Just let my mother go! Please!" I begged with a cry but I simply cried out when I felt another of my bone crack. Slade grabbed me by the roots of my hair and pulled my head back.

"You don't seem to understand the game, Miss Smoak. You need a bit of influence. If you do not say who the Arrow is, your mother will pay the consequences," he warned me.

"Go to hell," I growled at him.

"All in good time, I assure you." He ran his gloved hand over my neck and tried not to squeak in fear. "But right now, I need you to say his name. Say his name and your and your mother will go free."

"I rather die before you do anything to my mother. You want to kill me, kill me. But I will not allow you to hurt my mother." Another bone cracking and my hand was beginning to fit through the ropes.

"I admire your courage...but you do not have a choice." He lets go of my head and I saw them holding a gun at Donna's head. No, this can't be happening. Oliver, where are you?

* * *

Isabel's POV

Everything is going according to plan. That little blonde ponytailed IT bitch is as good as dead and so is the whore of her mother. Once she confuses who the Arrow is to the entire city, Slade will place a bullet in that supposed pretty face of hers and the same thing goes for her mother. If only he had left that task to me instead of leaving it to the others. I would have enjoyed torturing that little brat, making her scream and cry before putting her out of her misery. Unfortunately, Slade told me to stay put and let the others do the job and I am loyal to Slade. He saved my life after that bastard of John Diggle shot me. I also got to be co-CEO of Queens Consolidated, kicking Oliver's ass from his position and ownership and becoming the Queen of the company. Slade is the main CEO of Queens Consolidate. I'm his second in command. It actually feels good getting revenge on Robert by hurting his son and his loved ones. It gives me satisfaction.

I was trimming the thorns from the red roses in a delft vase in the parlor to make this place feel warm and more like home. Slade managed to gain ownership of the Merlyn Mansion to be as close to Oliver Queen as possible. We both slept in the master bedroom where Malcolm Merlyn and his late wife used to sleep in. I had the servants prepare dinner for us both as celebration for the exposure of Oliver Queen.

 **(Okay. We interrupt this program to remind you guys how much I hated Isabel Rochev. I love the actress but I really hated the character. Moving on)**

"Isabel!" I turn around and there stood Oliver Queen in his Arrow costume along with his whore Sara Lance and the bastard that shot me John Diggle. "Where is she?"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about," I said as calmly as ever before tossing the pair of scissors at him. Unfortunately, the whore caught it before the end of the blade stroke Oliver's face. Damn it.

"Felicity and Donna Smoak! We all know Slade took them," Diggle said as he was pointing his gun at me. He couldn't kill me again even if he tried. The Mirakuru will simply heal me in seconds.

"Now we want to know is where he took them!" Sara snapped.

"Sorry," I apologized sarcastically, "but even if I knew where Slade took them, I wouldn't tell you. Slade has a big plan for Felicity Smoak. I wouldn't want to spoil it if I were you."

"What plan?" Oliver asked. "Tell us right now!" He pointed an arrow at me. Does he really think that shooting me with his little toy arrows is going to stop me.

"That's something I know and for you to find out." I sneer at them.

For a moment, there was silence. Oliver looked at Sara and she nodded at him. That's when he shot an arrow at me. Before I could even catch it, it jabbed right into my shoulder. I suddenly felt a bit strange. I feel dizzy and nauseous. I feel like I want to throw up.

"What is this?"

"When Nyssa captured my mother, I had two choices: either let my mother die or go back with her to Nanda Parbat," Sara explained, "I neither and drank poison to kill myself. What you have is a large dose of the poison I drank, enough to make you weak, no matter how strong the Mirakuru is. Now, are you going to tell us where Felicity is or do we need to make this harder for you?"

"Fuck you, bitch!" I snap at her. She smiles at me. I'm going to get you for this.

"Let her have it, Oliver," she says. And he shoots another arrow, hitting me in the gut this time. I feel a lot dizzier and I drop on my knees.

"You know, that first dose was supposed to kill you instantly so consider yourself lucky you have the Mirakuru in your bloodstream. That second dose can leave you into unconsciousness. The third dose can leave you into a long-time coma while the fourth dose can probably kill you. So, are you going to tell us where Felicity is or do you want to spend the rest of your life in the hospital attached to monitors while Slade is fucking another woman?"

I stared my hands. My veins were turning black like ink and spreading like roots. This bitch is going to pay for doing this to me.

* * *

Felicity's POV

Another bone from my hand cracked. It's almost going through the rope. Almost there. What am I going to do if I actually break free though? I can't fight Mirakuru soldiers nor can I fight Slade. I would lose and die.

"Now tell us who the Arrow is," Slade urged me. He held a knife to my throat. He's going to kill me anyways, I realize. He's not going to let us go. He's going to kill me and Donna after I expose Oliver's secret to everyone in Starling City. I can't do this to Oliver. But I can't do this to Donna either. She's the only family I have left.

I look at the camera focusing on me and I looked at my mother. She's still crying. I pursed my lips. What choice do I have? Oliver is not coming for us. He doesn't know where we are. Even if he did, he wouldn't get here in time even on motorcycle. Dear God protect me. Another bone cracking and now only my four fingers were jammed in the ropes. Tears escaped my eyes.

"The Arrow...is...I can't," I whimpered and Donna began to cry. I can't do this. I can't do this to Oliver. He's my friend. I can't do this to him. I'm so sorry Donna.

"You know the rules, Miss Smoak. You do not tell us who the Arrow is, your mother dies," Slade said.

"You're going to kill us anyways. Please, let her go! I can't do this! Please, just kill me and let her go! Mom, I'm sorry," I cried.

"No! Don't kill her! Please, don't kill my baby! Felicity, you don't have to tell him anything! It's okay! Please! Kill me! I don't want my little girl to die! She's all I have left! I already lost my sister and my husband! Felicity is all I have left! Kill me instead! Please!" she sobbed.

"No! Mom! No! No!"

"It seems that your mother really does love you or else she wouldn't be sacrificing herself for you," he said, "Luckily, none of you will be alone. Both of you will be together...in the afterlife. Of course, the question is, who shall I kill first? You or your mother?"

The man holding the gun at my mother's head pulled the safety cap, his index finger already on the trigger.

"No! No!" I yelled. That's it. I shrieked.

All the windows in the warehouse exploded and along with the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and the spotlights. The lens on the camera cracked, and Slade and his minions dropped to the floor on their knees as they covered their ears with their hands. Doubt they can do that when they have masks on. Donna was ducking her head as all this was happening. Finally, I manage to slip my hand completely from the rope and I was free. I finally stopped screaming and rushed over to Donna. Slade and the others were still one the ground, trying to recuperate from the screams. I probably left them deaf and shocked but not for long since the Mirakuru was taking a quick effect. Once I untied Donna, I grabbed her by the wrist. I also managed to grab one of Slade's sword and a gun and dragged Donna away from here. This is a big warehouse. We don't really know where the exit is.

"Where are we going?" Donna asked.

"Trying to find an exit," I panted as we kept on running.

"What?"

"We're finding our way out of here." We entered another area of the warehouse. This used to be an old shoe factory, I assume. There were shoe-making machines almost everywhere, glass roofs and also tall rows of racks where boxes of shoes would be stored only to be picked up by delivery trucks. There's only one in Starling City and it has been closed for ten years. It's in worse shape since the earthquake. I know where we are. We're in the abandoned shoe factory located in the Glades.

"What?" she asked again. Wait a second. Ah, great! I left Donna deaf now. Nice going Felicity. Now your aunt can't here. I stopped her in her tracks and mouthed out the words.

"We are leaving."

"Oh."

We kept on running. I could hear Slade and the others following behind us even if they were far behind. I can't let him get to us.

We finally found the exit door. We ran to the door and I try push or pull it open but it wouldn't budge. Either it was locked or rusted shut. I slammed my hands against the door in frustration.

"Shit!"

"Felicity!" Donna cried out and forced me to turn around. Slade and the others we already here and he began to shoot at us.

"Mom, run!" I yell as I pushed her away and she ran off to hide at the racks. I used the gun I snatched and began shooting. I have never used a gun before. This is my first time. And I have a bad aim. Of course, neither of them hit Slade. The bullets would bounce off.

In five seconds, I ran out of bullets. My hands were shaking in fear. I could use the sword but I know he can simply bend it.

"I stand corrected. You are not like the other girls. Do not worry, love, I will make your death painless."

The ceiling above us shattered and Oliver bursts into the warehouse along with Sara and Diggle. They're here. They found us. Thank you.

"Kill them!" Slade commanded and the two minions ran towards my friends.

There were a lot of punches being thrown. Sara was doing the win chun she was teaching, slamming a fist away before punching the guy in the gut. This left the man unphased and Sara was flipped over onto the floor. My hand held the sword tighter. I want to help but I can't. I'm not strong enough. Diggle kept on shooting at the second guy that works for Slade but he got in the shoulder and knocked to the ground. Upon seeing this, Sara kicked her attacker's feet, knocking him to the ground and quickly rushed to his aid, beating his attacker in the head repeatedly with her bo-staff, only failing to knock him out.

"Diggle! My mother!" I yell out.

"Dig! Go and get her mom!" Oliver yelled.

Diggle got up from the floor, his shoulder still bleeding, and runs off to find my mother. Slade grabbed me by the throat and threw me to the floor. The sword slipped from my hands. I gasped for air after being slammed to the floor before I felt his booted foot against my throat.

"I take it back. I'll make you scream."

"Oliver!" I yell.

"Let her go, Slade!" Oliver shouted, aiming his arrow at him. "Your fight is with me."

Slade looks down at me for a moment. I know what he's thinking. He's deciding to let me go so he can attack Oliver or kill me first before attacking him. I cried out. This hurts. A lot. Finally, he removed his foot from my throat and I gasped for air.

Everything was straight out of a horror film. We were all dying here. Slade and his men are too strong for Oliver and Sara to defeat. Diggle finally found my mother and used a grappling hook to get her out of the warehouse through the roof. Sara was knocked to the floor again. I know all too well that Sara does not go down that easily. Her bo-staff was also a taser and used it shock her two attackers. Oliver is not considered lucky. I don't know how but Slade broke Oliver's arm and he screamed in pain. I can't just stand here and do nothing. I screamed but nothing happened. My throat was sore from the earlier scream. Cisco should have told me that my throat would go sore throughout every scream. How long will it take for me to recuperate from this? I don't know. Where's the sword?

"Remember who trained you kid," Slade had said when Oliver was already knocked to the floor and at gunpoint.

I don't remember what happened afterwards. When I saw Oliver in near death, some sort of shot of adrenaline kicked into me. The last thing I remember is grabbing the sword I took from Slade and his head was already rolling onto the floor. His masked head. My hands were still shaking and there was blood on me. Oh my God. I think I killed Slade Wilson. I killed Deathstroke. The two of Slade's minions fled after they saw what I have done. Oliver and Sara simply stared at me in shock.

* * *

Detective Quentin Lance and the rest of the SCPD team showed up along with an ambulance. Oliver and Sara left the area before the police arrived. Diggle left my mother in alley behind dumpster and told her to stay there till the police arrived or until I came out. The paramedics attended us both. My mother had her face patched from the blows she received and my broken hand was bandaged. The paramedics said I simply dislocated my finger bones. There were no broken bones. That's a relief. They also checked my mother's hearing after she complained she couldn't hear but muffling noises. They said she had a temporary swelling in the eardrums that would go down in a few days. I'm glad that my new abilities didn't cause permanent damage in the eardrums. She smiled at me, reassuring that she was okay. I was shaking from the adrenaline though. I have never killed anyone before. And I chopped off Slade's head. I didn't want to kill him but I didn't have any choice. He was hurting my friends. I meant for him to die. I'm just glad he's dead. Oliver and Sara don't have to worry about him anymore.

Detective Lance came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I flinched at this though. I'm not really stable to have people touching me.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Fine. Tired. Terrified. I probably pooped my pants afterwards," I croaked. My throat was less sore now. But I'm so tired.

"Well, I'm guessing you and your mother are fine now. You gave us quite as scare."

I nodded.

"Felicity!"

I saw Oliver and Sara arrive. They were in their civilian clothes instead of their uniforms. His arm didn't look broken but it did look stiff. Looks like he splintered and bandaged the arm in hurry. He needs a proper doctor. But I'm glad both of them are fine.

"You okay? We heard that you and your mom got kidnapped." Oliver said in concern, trying to act like he was not responsible for Arrow saving me. Correction, _I_ saved the Arrow. He was trying to act like he didn't know what happened in order to tone down suspicion from Detective Lance "What happened?"

"Some psychos in black and orange masks kidnapped Felicity and Donna Smoak and brought them here. They were lucky the Arrow saved them," Detective Lance said.

"Actually, I did the saved. Deathstroke was going to kill the Arrow if I hadn't chopped his head off with the sword," I said with a slight chuckle. Oliver frowned at me.

"Can you tell me if you know any of these guys that kidnapped you?" Detective Lance asked me.

"Yes." I'm not afraid to say his name now that he's dead. "The man. The one I chopped the head off. It's Slade Wilson."

"Slade Wilson?" The detective's eyebrows rose. He doesn't believe me. I imagine they didn't take the mask off when they entered the building for investigation. There are a few SCPD's looking for the two missing guys that were involved with our capture. They must be out there in civilian clothes. They are not stupid enough to run around in Deathstroke costumes, unless it's Halloween which I doubt very much.

"Didn't you remove the mask?" I asked.

"Yes, we did," he said, "but unless he had a quick plastic surgery to disguise himself, I'm sorry to say that it's not him," he said.

Oliver and I stared at him dumbfounded. It's not Slade? That's impossible. I know his voice. He spoke to me the entire time. How can it not be Slade?

The detective asked us to follow him into the warehouse when the forensics were still getting a few blood sample from the man I killed. I had a shroud over my shoulders. I was cold. The body still lay on the floor, blood still pouring out from the severed neck and pooling. The sight of blood simply makes me want to vomit. Then, we saw the head lying next to the body. The mask has been removed and was having DNA extracted from the inside with cotton swabs. I saw the face of the man I killed. Detective Lance is right. That's not Slade. The man's hair is completely white and he had both eyes which were ice blue. That is not Slade Wilson. I've been played.

* * *

Slade's POV

I replayed the events over and over again. I had placed hidden cameras in every corner of the warehouse. I have watched my assistants threaten Felicity Smoak and her mother from the Merlyn Mansion in my study. I watched her scream and all hell broke loose in the factory. She used the technique I taught Oliver when I first tied him up and threatened to kill him before he broke loose. She had taken a gun and a sword. She untied her mother and they ran off.

Things became a disaster when Oliver, Sara and Diggle arrived. My plans of exposing Oliver Queen were ruined. Of course, it was expected no thanks to Isabel. I heard them fighting in the parlour. After they left, Isabel came into my study in the worst shape of her life. She was poisoned and was forced to reveal Felicity's location to obtain the antidote. I responded this by slapping her in the face. They were unaware that I was here the whole time and the one holding Felicity captive was an impostor I hired just in case the plan failed. Things did not go as planned.

But what happened next was impressive and yet frightening. My impostor was about to kill Oliver when Felicity took a sword and severed his head from his body. She actually dare herself to kill someone and she thought it was me. I am impressed indeed. Her screams had nearly destroyed the entire warehouse and she chopped off the head of my impostor, thinking it was me. This is shocking indeed. I was right then. Waking up from a come really does change people. Now I know better than to underestimate the child.

There is another situation I must face though. Her reaction when she found out the man she killed was not me.

I played her.

I tricked her.

I made her kill because I had her mother on gunpoint.

And for that, she will hate me for the rest of her life. When we see each other again at work, I know that things will not end well for any of us.

* * *

 **Ron Perlman as False Deathstroke**

* * *

 **Did I scare you guys with this chapter? Did you really believe Felicity killed Slade? Because if you did, sorry if I had to do that but it was necessary. I'm just laughing right. Sorry. Anyways, Felicity just had her first kill. Impressive and scary don't you think. Yeah...I really need to visit my psychiatrist. I'm kind of nuts in the head. Anyways, that's it for my new chapter of Black Smoak. Now that Felicity had her first kill, it's going to bring some tension between her and Oliver now that he knows that she has changed terribly. And what's going to happen with Slade when Felicity decides to confront him for playing her? We'll have to find out and see. Also what you think of Ron Perlman playing the fake Deathstroke in this chapter? Isn't it cool that the actor of Slade from the original TV series of _Teen Titans_ played another Slade character in _Arrow_ even if he was not the real Slade Wilson? Let me know if I blew your mind there. Thanks for reading Chapter 11 of Black Smoak guys. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review down below the chapter and I'll make sure to leave another chapter. Have a good day and Happy Halloween. If you happen to get dark chocolate Milky Way...SAVE SOME FOR ME! **


	12. Chapter 12: Don't Mess with a Smoak

**Hey, guys, thanks for reading Chapter 11 of Black Smoak. Chapter 12 is up next and all I can say is that Felicity is not at all happy with Slade. She's basically pissed off with him right now. Anyways, the theme song I picked for writing this story is _The Weeknd - High for This_. It's a really cool song. If you don't know the song, look it up on Youtube. It has also been used for _The Perfect Guy_ movie trailer.**

 **Mira Sorvino as Evelyn Smoak**

 **Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon/Vibe**

 **Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost**

 **Ron Perlman as Fake Deathstroke**

* * *

Sara's POV

"So, is Felicity okay?" Laurel asked me. We were having coffee together this morning. She had mochaccino while I had a cup of vanilla latte. It's my favourite coffee. I like vanilla in my coffee. Plain coffee tastes terrible unless you put some sugar and flavour to it. We were also having chocolate chip scones.

"Yeah, she and her mom are pretty shaken up," I tell her, "Both of them spent the night sleeping on the sofa again."

"You know, I heard that the sofa is a lot more comfy that the bed itself. They say that beds give you nightmares," she said. Hmm. Felicity said the exact same thing to me one day.

"So, you're suggesting I should sleep on the sofa?" I asked as I dipped my scone in my coffee. They were hard as a rock. You know sleeping on the sofa doesn't sound like a bad idea. It might help take away Oliver's nightmares of Shado.

"Well, with the things that's been happening these days besides Slade attacking Oliver's family, I think it's the greatest suggestion yet," she said before taking a sip from her coffee. I frown at her as she mentioned this.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Well, over the last couple of days, a few men have been dying in their sleep," she explained to me, "The autopsy revealed that these men have died being strangled, stabbed, hung or even slashed in the throat. The weirdest part is that there were no signs of struggle or signs of forced entry or signs of suicide. In fact, there are no signs at all."

"That's weird. What do we got there, Freddy Krueger or something?" I asked. That reminded me of what Ollie said to me about what happened to Felicity the week before when she was smashing her face against her window. She was in her sleep when it happened. If Oliver hadn't woken her up, who knows what would have happened.

"Might as well be it. The SCPD is running out of options already. These deaths keep getting weirder and weirder. They're calling it the Death Bed now."

"Lame. Do you know who they are? These people that were murdered?"

"I know that almost none of them have a connection except that they resided in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vincent O'Connor, an owner of a strip club at the other side of Starling City. Samuel Brawn, he worked as a janitor in some elementary school. They both died in their sleep. Mr. O'Connor died in his sleep with signs of strangle around his throat. And Mr. Brawn, he was asleep in the janitor's closet and next thing you know, he was hanging from the ceiling with blankets around his neck," she informed me.

Yikes. Yep. That's Freddy Krueger shit all over.

"So, there are no connections to them except they are both from Las Vegas….Hey, Felicity told me she was from Las Vegas."

"She is? I didn't know that," she frowned.

"Also, Oliver said that something weird happened to Felicity at Queens Consolidated before she got shocked. He said that she was found smashing her face against the glass windows in her sleep and he had to slap her to wake her up."

"Wow," she said and sighs in frustration, "Well, that means the case is still open. We have another connection. Felicity Smoak is from Las Vegas too. You know, I'm wondering why they are all connected to a city when they don't even know each other like at all. Doubt Felicity knows who these people are."

"Yeah, I know. Something is not adding up here. Something really weird is going on and whatever it is, we better find out and fast. Hey, didn't you say Dad twisted his foot falling down the stairs?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hell was he doing at the Glades?" I asked.

"You know how Dad is. When he hears a case involving the Arrow, he suddenly feels brand new again. He's arrogant."

My phone suddenly rang. I pick out my cellphone from my jacket's pocket and answered it. It's Oliver.

"Hey Ollie, what is it?...Uh-huh…She did _what_!?...Holy shit…This I gotta see." Then I hung. I look at Laurel who was staring at me in confusion.

"What is it?"

"Do you know Isabel Rochev, the bitch that stole Oliver's company?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I just got a call from Oliver. Felicity just beat the living shit out of her."

* * *

Felicity's POV

I don't know if it was a mistake to come to Queens Consolidated today after what happened last night with Slade's minions. I quietly left Donna sleeping on the sofa for work. I iron down my hair and dressed myself in a dark green dress with black leggings and a brown belt around my waist. The lipstick I was wearing was a deep shade of red, like blood. I looked at myself in the dresser mirror. My expression remained stern and dark. I was getting ready for work despite Oliver's disagreement and despite Slade's attempt to kill me and Donna. I am not afraid.

I arrived at Queens Consolidated. Slade Wilson was having another board meeting in the conference room with the investors as far as the security guard at the lobby explained. Good. I don't want to interrupt his negotiation with the investors and CEO's but he and I have things to discuss in private. And if doesn't want to talk to me about the situation, he can simply go to hell for all I care. I'm going to expose him for who he really is by publishing his history throughout the entire website for everyone to see. Everyone will know Slade Wilson is.

He was in a meeting when I stood outside the conference room. As I suspected, he was in a board meeting with Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer and Lex Luthor. Oliver and Isabel were there as well. Oliver saw me and his eyes widened in shock. I know what he must be thinking. What am I doing here? I should be resting. Of course, I did not tell Oliver I was coming. I don't need his permission to work. He does not own me. I do not work for him here in Queens Consolidated. He needs to be clear on that. As for Slade, he needs to be made clear that even if I work here in Queens Consolidated does not mean he can play me and threaten the life of my aunt. I will not allow him take advantage of me.

I calmly knock on the glass door with a small smile and everyone's eyes were on me, especially Slade. Of course, he only has one eye. Not the time for analyzing now though. He nods and with his permission, I let myself in.

"Felicity, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked, "I thought you were sick." Oh yes, the sick excuse is always effective for you Oliver but not for me.

"I'm feeling much better, thank you for your concern, Oliver. I came here because Mr. Wilson and I have a few things to discuss," I turned to him, "We never got to finish business and I thought you would give me a bit of your time. 5 minutes if you don't mind."

"...I obviously would mind a five minute break. My ass is killing me," Lex Luthor commented.

"Is there anything you need, Miss Smoak?" He asked as I walked towards him and stopped in front of him. I stared at him sternly. "As you can see, I'm in the middle of a meeting. If you wish, we can discuss this later -."

I smacked him in the face. Hard. Hard enough to turn his face far to the left and leaving a red mark forming on his face. Everyone in the conference room stared at me in shock, including Oliver. Isabel had nearly stood up from her, almost as if she was going to attack me but she remained in her chair. Slade craned his head to glare at me but I did not flinch under his one stare.

"I think five minutes won't take long. Do you prefer talking in private or do you prefer to talk here in a very loud voice in front of everyone in this board meeting," I said coldly.

"...Very well," he nodded in agreement before turning his attention to the others. "I won't be long."

"Good," I said.

We both left the conference room and headed for the lounge where he locked the door behind us so no one else would entered. It's just him and me.

Next thing I know, he grabs me by the neck and slams me against the wall, holding me in place and squeezing tightly. I gagged as I struggled to breathe. He was definitely mad at me for slapping him in the face in front of everyone in the conference room. I don't care. He glared and gritted his teeth furiously at me.

"You're not squeezing harder, Slade," I taunted him choking"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to leave bruises for everyone to see." That definitely came out so wrong right now.

The anger he had on his face slowly faded as I said that. His grasp loosened from my neck and I breathed in air. Of course, he did not release me. His hand moved to the back of my head and grasped the roots of my hair. There was dead threatening silence between us. He's waiting for one of us to speak.

"...You played me, Slade," I said. "You tricked me. You made me kill."

"That was something _you_ decided, Miss Smoak. Your first kill, that is all on you."

"...Only because your friend was about to kill Oliver. I had no choice."

"You could have chosen to let him die like a hero you think he is."

"That's not how I work."

"...Your abilities. What you showed back there, what was it?"

"I don't have to give any explanation to you, Slade," I hissed at him. "What I want to know is what the fuckshit is your problem with Oliver? And what the hell was that for? _My_ mother. My own mother was about to get shot on your orders because I wouldn't confess the Arrow's real name in front of the entire city. She had no part of this and there was no reason to kidnap her and hold her at gunpoint."

"Desperate times come to desperate measures, Miss Smoak. Besides, I had no plans to kidnap your mother. She was not part of the plan. But then I thought that you needed a bit of influence or else you would never mention the Arrow's name in front of the cameras. You would be happy to die for Oliver." He was circling me as he said this. It made me feel uncomfortable and queezy inside. I think I'm going to vomit. "That's why I used your mother. She was simply a pawn to get you to confess. Of course, things did not go exactly as planned."

"Of course, it didn't. Oliver came in and saved us both," I lied. I have high hopes that Slade does not know about my new _abilities_ which I doubt gravely since he knows everything.

"Do not be so modest, Miss Smoak," he smirked at me and I frowned in return, "You have already done most of the saving before Oliver showed up."

My eyes widened at this. He knows. He knows about my abilities. He knows what I have done last night.

"You really didn't think I wasn't watching, Miss Smoak, did you?" He held my hand but I quickly recoiled. He knows nothing. "I went through your files. Some of them were from the hospital. You were shocked by a computer supposedly cause by a short-circuit but we all know that is not true. William Tockman. He has been thrown to jail the night you were sent to the hospital. What a coincidence, don't you think?...Your abilities...your voice...It is very powerful. Imagine if people knew of your abilities."

I spin immediately to face him. He can't be serious.

"You wouldn't," I snarled at him.

"Oh but I would, Miss Smoak. It is only fair. You did mention my secret to Detective Quentin Lance when he interrogated you. Luckily, he did not believe you and thought the other man was Deathstroke. So, let's make it clear that I will keep your secret as long as you keep mine."

I was shocked by this. He caught me red-handed and now he has me trapped. He has threatened on telling my secret if I told on him to Detective Lance or perhaps if I ever disrespected him by smacking him in the face again. He's playing dirty with me. That's not a fair game, Slade. You want to play dirty, Slade, I can play dirty too.

"...Lian Yu," I said. When I said that, it seems like he froze. He looks like he has seen a ghost when I said that. "You think I don't know about Lian Yu? How it was used for a military base and how you and Oliver ended up trapped there. Oliver has already told me about it and it's all Sara talks about it. I know how you ended with the Mirakuru in your veins. And I know what Ivo did to the woman you supposedly loved. What was her name? Shado?"

He grabs me by the neck again and squeezes tighter than before. I choked.

"Shado...died...because Oliver chose Sara instead of her when...Ivo was the one who pulled the trigger, not him. And...now you're putting the blame...on him," I choked. My face was beginning to feel fuzzy and I could have sworn my lips were turning blue. "What will people say...if they find my body next to you once they enter the lounge?...You cannot take my body...from here without anyone noticing."

With that, he finally releases me and I drop on my knees, gasping for air. Bastard. Why do they always have to go for the head, throat and heart. Why can't they go to the less cliche parts? I understand he loved Shado, or at least I think he did, but does mentioning her name really pull trigger where he just wants to strangle people or break their necks? I know Oliver wants to drive an arrow through Slade's other eye (after he killed Moira) before killing him. Why can't this end in peace? Why must be a war of pain where others must suffer? My mother...almost died...because of me and because of my connections with the Arrow. I will never forget her face of terror, not because she was going to die but because she was afraid I was going to die. She loved me too much to watch me die. I, honestly, do not know if I ever want to use my abilities again after that event. Maybe I shouldn't. I can actually hurt someone with them. I have already left my mother temporarily deaf. I only screamed for 10 seconds. It could have been worse, a _lot_ worse. I could have messed up her brain and caused her death by brain trauma. I don't think I want to do it again as long as my mother is involved. This is actually the first time I actually want my mother to leave Starling City. She needs to get away from Slade.

He crouches down next to me and lifts up my chin to stare at him in the eye.

"You're hero is no saint, Miss Smoak. You should know that now. He lets the people he loves suffer the consequences of his actions. And I will make sure he suffer every bit of it, removing everything he has and corrupting the ones he loves." He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"You really think Oliver and I have a relationship. Don't kid yourself. He and Sara are already together."

He looks at me perplexed. Does he really think Oliver and I are together? He can dream on. I don't do guys in relationships nor do I do heroes that don't wear a freakin' condom every time they fuck a girl if they don't want kids. Also, I don't do psychopaths that hold mothers at gunpoint nor try to strangle me.

"Hmm. You really are an interesting girl, aren't you? You may talk a lot but you still keep secrets hidden behind those lovely eyes of yours."

I stand up from the floor and brush down the skirt of my green dress and adjusted my glasses.

"And for a mysterious man, you sure open up," I said. He scoffed and smirked at me.

"...Your father." I stared at him wide-eyed. How the hell does he know about my father and how does he know I even have one? "He was here the night you asked for the night off to go ice-skating with your mother. He asked for your location and the location of your home." My father was here? No. No. Hell no. "Do not concern yourself, love. I never told him where you lived. I may be out for revenge towards Oliver and those allied with him but that does not mean I wish for other men to eliminate you unless I pay them to do so...I know much about your history, Miss Smoak." No one can ever know about my past in Nevada. "I know what happened to you when you were a child." He cannot tell this to anyone. "I know that your mother killed herself when she was four years and left you in abandonment. You were raised by your aunt whom you always call mother since you don't really want anyone knowing she's not really your mother. You don't want anyone knowing about your past." No one can know. I won't let him reveal my secret. Not to Oliver. Not to anyone. Ever. No one can know about my father. And if Slade reveals my secret, I don't know what I would do. Everyone will be treating me like a fragile porcelain doll or a lost case. I don't want a life where everyone has to keep an eye on me to make sure I'm safe. I don't want that for my life.

"What are you going to do Slade? Tell everyone if I tell about Lian Yu? Go ahead. I don't care because you know nothing about what happened that night...because I don't either," I say almost tearfully. Don't cry here, Felicity. Don't cry. He'll think you're being pathetic. "I do know one thing though. You can fire me. You can kill me all you like. In fact, you can do it now that we are alone. But you will never come near my mother again. If you ever try go near her again, I promise you that I will make your life a living hell, probably worse than Lian Yu. You will stay away from us! Do you you understand? You stay away."

"...Of course."

"...You know, I know why you love Shado so much. Oliver told me all about her. How she was beautiful, strong and kind. It made me think...I'm glad she's dead," He stared at me darkly as I said that, "because if she was alive and here to see what you're doing in her name, she would have wished she was dead."

 **(BURN!)**

He continued to stare at me but he made no move to attack me as I mentioned Shado's name again and that I was glad she was dead or else she would have wished she was. I noticed his one eye watering. With that, I turned on my heel and left the lounge, leaving him alone to let the words sink.

I walk over to the elevator, waiting for it to arrive. I need rest. I'm tired. I really need to sleep. Also, I need to make sure Donna is safe. I don't want my father finding out where I live. And just my luck, Isabel shows up next to me. Shit.

"I enjoyed your performance," she mocked, "Of course, I'm surprised Slade didn't tear your head off at that moment. It would have been enjoyable seeing your blood splatter on the floor and using your head as a puppet afterwards." Is this psycho serious? "Did you have a nice chat with him?"

"A very nice chat," I tell her, "better than talking to you, I believe."

"You know, your mother seems nice," she taunted. I glare at her, "especially when she kept begging for your life. She must really love you."

"If you and Slade ever-."

"What? I'm just saying...Of course, I'd be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of her. She's a total porn slut."

"Hey, don't talk about my mother that way," I snap at her.

"Or you'll what? Kill me? You can't. I have the Mirakuru in my veins, and you know that."

"One day when I have the cure, you're gonna have to watch your back. Slade is just using you, you know that? He doesn't really love you. He's doing all this for another woman."

"And you think I don't know that? Slade may love Shado but this is only temporary. Once his revenge is complete, he'll move on with his life."

"And you think he'll move on with you?"

"I don't see why he would move on with someone else that's not me. I understand him. I know all of his secrets. We both share the pain the Queens inflicted on us. It's not like her cunt was worth anything. Slade would never find out how much it's worth now that his poor love is dead."

"Yeah...but the way I see things, I'm guessing her cunt is worth ten times more than yours."

 **(DOUBLE BURN!)**

She slapped me after that.

That does it. With that, I punched Isabel in the face. I hit her with such force that I knocked her down to the floor. I threw myself on top of her and continued punching her in the face with all the strength. She has Mirakuru. She should be pushing me off and throwing me to the wall. But for some reason, she can't. She struggled to throw me off but I wouldn't let. I just keep beating her down, and she continued to yell as well as I did. Hers was of pain. Mine was of rage. I didn't notice people crowding us until I felt a pair of strong arms around my waist and hauling me off Isabel. It was Oliver.

"Get off!" I yell out and anger as I tried struggling to break free but Oliver just held me tighter.

"Stop, Felicity! Stop!"

"Ah, you stupid bitch!" Isabel got up from the floor and tried to lunge at me but Slade appeared and quickly grabbed. Her face was all bloody after punching her repeatedly. "I'll kill you for this!" she screamed, "I'll fucking kill you! You're dead! Get off me, Slade! I'm gonna kill her! You're going to pay for that!"

"Come on, Felicity! Let's go!"

"Get your hands off me, Oliver!" I yelled as he dragged me to the elevator when it finally arrived. The rest of it was history.

* * *

Slade's POV

"Maybe I ask what an earth were you thinking Isabel?" I asked her after rushing her back to Merlyn Mansion where her wounds would be attended. She took a lot more damage than Felicity did. We had to remain far away from the disaster as possible. This will be the subject of tomorrow, something that you don't see every day in Queens Consolidated and probably will never be forgotten. The investors will demand explanation and everyone will be giving looks. Isabel will be punished for this. As for Felicity Smoak, I'll deal with her later.

"That little bitch thinks she can beat me up and get away with it," she growled as she placed an icepack to her nose. She had a busted lip, a black eye, a swollen cheek and a broken nose. She has the Mirakuru in her veins. It should not take her that long to heal. Unless it's wearing off which should not happen. It's odd.

"I'm guessing you started it."

"I should have finished it by snapping her neck," she gritted her teeth at me. "God, I felt like I was being beaten by a hammer."

"Like I said before, you will not place a hand on her. Only I can do so."

"...After you fuck her."

I smacked her in the face for this. How dare she spoke to me that way. I dismissed her afterwards. I want to be alone.

I lay alone in my bed that night with the door locked, not wanting Isabel sneaking into my bed at night. Shado did not appear to me again. I don't want her to for now. I need to think things through. There are too many things in my head to have two women in. Well, four to be exact. Adeline. Shado. Isabel. And now Felicity. The words Felicity told me in the lounge. They wounded me. _"You stay away from us!"_ she had said in a very loud voice. " _If you ever come near my mother again, I will make sure your life becomes a living hell..."_ I have already been in hell before. She cannot make things worse for me. Lian Yu was like being in hell on Earth though nothing compare than my childhood. My home was my own personal hell and my brother Wade was the devil, something I did not notice till it was too late. I missed Adeline after the crash in Lian Yu. For many years, before Oliver and Shado appeared, I tried my best to return home to her and my son Joe. A good boy. He was only five. I missed almost all of his birthday. As the years went by of struggling to live, it felt like forever. I knew that Adeline would think me dead, remarry and move on with her life. I didn't want that but at the same time, I didn't want her to suffer. Oliver Queen is the one that did this. Shado. She deserved better than death. " _If she was alive right now and saw the things you are doing in her name, she would have wished she was dead._ " Those last words she said to me before she left Queens Consolidate. Well, before she gave Isabel a good beating. Can it be true what she said? Would Shado wish she was dead if she saw my doings. I remember her seeing her beautiful and kind, a skillful fighter. Would she be terrified what I have done in her name, what Oliver lacked the courage to do for her? Would she prefer to put a gun in her mouth in order to stop me from honouring her? No she wouldn't. She can't. Felicity is wrong. Shado wouldn't prefer dying. She wouldn't. Then why can't I stop thinking about it? Why can't I get Felicity out of my head?

* * *

Sara's POV

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?" I heard Oliver snap from downstairs. I sitting up here in the Clocktower, our back-up hideout, waiting for them to come back after receiving the emergency call from him, telling me that Felicity beat the shit out of Isabel. I'm actually glad she did it. It was about time someone gave her a taste of her own medicine. I'm just surprised that it was Felicity who threw the first punch. Unfortunately, it seems that Ollie is not happy about it. The arrived upstairs and Felicity pushed aside the plastic curtains as she entered. She tried to keep a good distance away from Oliver as much as she could, wanting to ignore his rantings which were not helping. "Do you realize what you almost did?" He was standing behind Felicity. She had her back turned to him with her arms crossed over her chest. Both of them are acting like kids.

"Oliver, take it easy, man," Diggle tried to calm him down. Diggle, you can never tell Ollie to calm down. He doesn't calm down easily and Dig knows that.

"Yeah," Felicity turns around to face him, "I nearly smashed her face into pieces Mortal Kombat X style, that's what I did."

"You could have gotten killed. Isabel has Mirakuru. She could have killed you."

"But she didn't. Instead, _I_ could have kill _her_."

"I like Mortal Kombat," I intervened, "I played the game a few times. I haven't played the new game. In my opinion, Felicity should have FINISH HER as quote in the game." Yeah, not the smartest thing to say during an argument. I did play Mortal Kombat. I have never played the new. They say it's bloody...Yeah.

"Thank you," Felicity said.

"You're not helping Sara," Oliver sneered. Jeez. Can't give a girl credit for trying?

"Isabel insulted me. She called my mother a porn slut. I think she deserved being beaten down. She deserved worse though," she hissed.

"I'm with Felicity on this one," I said in my opinion.

"Sara."

"What? It's true. Diggle put like two bullets on Isabel and that bitch just won't die. You know they're calling her Ravager now here in Starling City. And do you know there's another Ravager rampaging in California. Don't you think that's kind of weird that they both have the same codename? You know what I think? I think Isabel is a coppycat, liar and a slut."

"Way to blow it in, Sara," Diggle groaned in frustration. Oh, yeah, I forgot that I shouldn't mention there were other villains outside Starling City. There are. In Gotham, there's some guy called the Riddler causing havoc and some guy in a batsuit called the Bat is trying to stop him. The names these people are coming up with. In Central City, meta-humans are beginning to appear besides Barry Allen becoming the Flash. Felicity told me he's trying to find the murderer of his mother who was mysteriously killed by some yellow flash of light. What people are becoming these. I became the Canary, Oliver became the Arrow, Slade is Deathstroke, Barry is the Flash and now Isabel is Ravager. What's next now? What will Diggle become if this continues? What will Felicity become now that she is meta-human? What are we now?

"Can we please stick to the situation now?" Oliver asked.

"What situation? There's no situation, Oliver. Felicity simple pummeled Isabel. Nothing more. And honestly, I would have done the same thing," Diggle supported. "It seems that shooting her doesn't really work. I wasted a bunch of bullets for nothing."

"This is not about whether Felicity attack Isabel or not. It's about _her_ behaviour."

" _My_ behaviour? What's wrong with my behaviour?" Felicity asked. Well, you're snapping at him, so that's kind of part of the problem. I don't know if anyone noticed but this is not the same Felicity know and love. Her attitude seems more harsh these days. I don't know if it has to do with her waking up from the coma or the shock making her emotionally unstable. Even being a meta-human has it's faults. And her change of attitude is one of them. This is a different Felicity.

"Yes. You. Your coma. Everything that happen after Tockman has changed you, Felicity. You're becoming irritant. You snap at everything. You don't want to talk about what's wrong. And you're lashing out in anger, giving you Slade and Isabel for example. Do you guys know that Felicity just came into the office and smacked Slade right in the face right in front of the investors that offered to keep this company on float. And we do not know if they'll do it after that boxing tournament you performed!" Oliver kept snapping at all three of us, not just Felicity.

Felicity smack Slade in the face? Oh wow. Forget Isabel, that is something worth seeing more.

I noticed Felicity gulp and her breathing shift. She better not be thinking what I think she's thinking. She's not going to do it, is she? Yeah, she's going to do it. I can tell by the look in her eyes.

"Oh, and do I need to mention that your mother just told us at the hospital that she is not even your real mother. Also, Slade just confirmed that you did you did not go to a doctor's appointment which make me wonder where the heck you've been yesterday all day which brings me to you Sara since you were the one who was with Felicity all day. You mind telling me what the hell is going on here?"

"...Sure," she perked up but I knew where this was going. "You want to hear what's going. Listen up."

That's when she let out her special scream and knocked Oliver to the floor, leaving him shaking from the shock. It wasn't as piercing as it was before but it was loud enough for half of the city to hear. I mentally laughed at this but I didn't do it out loud. Diggle simply stared in shock. She only screamed for one second and Oliver was already shaking. Wow. Felicity is like a banshee.

"What the fuck was that?" Diggle asked. Oliver had finally recovered quickly from Felicity's action and stood up from the floor, brushing off dust from his sleeves

"Me. My voice. This is who I am now. I'm a meta-human, just like Barry and anyone else who has been affected in Central City. No thanks to William Tockman, I ended up like this."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, how easy it is to say _I'm a meta-human_ now! You're kidding with me right. Do you know how difficult to say it? It's really difficult! I couldn't tell you guys because I didn't know if what I have is dangerous or not. I had to go to Central City to Cisco and Caitlyn to have me tested. I didn't want to tell you or Diggle because I didn't know what was going on!"

"What about Sara? Why did you tell her and not us?" Oliver asked almost offended.

"It's a girl thing," I said.

"I trust Sara. She doesn't freak out like _you_ do," she said.

"I was _kind of_ freaked out," I pointed out. I was. Does she really think I wasn't freaked out? Noooo! I was definitely freaking out, on the inside of course.

"Again, Sara, not helping," Oliver said.

"And do you know what it's like trying to erase all the memories I had of my childhood? It's a nightmare. Yes, Donna is my aunt. My mother died when I was four years old. She is not my real mother. But she's still a mother to me since my real mother is buried three feet underground." She said that last part in a very loud voice and took Oliver and Diggle off guard.

"...Felicity...let us help you. We can figure this out together. We can help you control or we can find a cure for it," he said. Not helping Oliver.

"And if none of that work? Are you going to drive an arrow through me like you did to Slade?"

"Slade is a different story."

"No, it's not."

"Should I remind you that you got captured by Slade last night?"

Does he? No. I think Felicity already knows. She doesn't need to be reminded.

"Only it wasn't him. It seems that Slade doesn't like to get his hands dirty."

"We saved your life that night from Slade. You should be grateful."

"I am. But that doesn't mean you can interfere in a situation I'm already handling myself. Ten minutes before you arrived, I managed to break free and save my mother from getting shot. Also, you almost got killed by Mirakuru soldiers. So, technically, _I_ was the one who saved your ass, Oliver Queen, so the one being ungrateful is _you_."

 **(Fire!)**

With that, she stormed out. Ouch. That has to hurt. But Felicity is right. She saved Oliver from getting killed. Of course, no one expected her to chop someone's head off but it's still something. Oliver should be grateful that they didn't turn him into Queen Pudding. Oliver was left dumbfounded. What do expect Oliver? This is not the same Felicity. You should know better than to treat her that, especially with what she went through. I think slapping Slade in the face and beating down Isabel was justifying for what they almost did to her and her aunt. Diggle simply shook his head in disappointment.

"Told you should have gone easy on her," Diggle said, "Felicity's been through a lot these days. The least you could do is try to be a bit more patient with her. If she wasn't ready to talk, Oliver, I think you shouldn't be pressuring her."

"Look, guys," I finally spoke and they better not interrupt me again or else I'm going to beat the crap of them both "I'm gonna go and see if Felicity's okay."

"I think it's a good idea," Diggle supported me. Finally. "She might open up to you more than she does to us."

I nod before going downstairs to find Felicity. The clock tower isn't exactly big enough for someone like Felicity to hide. She has already told me before that she is shit at hide and seek. It was easy to find her downstairs. She was sitting on one of the wooden crate of boxes where some of Oliver's belongings were still packed after the bank took away his home. Well, technically, Slade was the one who took the away his home while Isabel took away his company, causing him and his sister to bankrupt. She was dabbing away her tears with a piece of tissue. God knows where that come from. I sat down next to her and asked if she was okay.

"Yeah," she answered, "I'm just cranky is all. I didn't mean to scream at Oliver like that."

"We're all cranky today. Diggle is cranky. Laurel is cranky. Oliver is cranky. My dad's cranky. I'm cranky. You're cranky. The whole Universe is cranky. And let's be honest, I think Oliver deserved that."

"I just don't know what's wrong with me. I thought I had better control over this but every day, I'm getting angrier and more stressed out than ever and take it all on you guys when it's clear that it's none of your fault. I think I'm going crazy, Sara"

"If that's the case than we are all going crazy. Everything that's happening between him and Slade has nothing to do with you or your powers and you know that. You can't beat yourself over the things Slade does."

"It has nothing to do with Slade. Trust me," she gritted her teeth as she tried to fight back her tears.

"Then, what is it?"

"It's me. The things that are happening. It's all me. I feel like I went on the boat as well and every day I'm sinking deeper and deeper and not getting any closer to the surface, getting consumed by darkness and drowning in my own sorrows."

"You said your mother died. Tell me what happened," I placed a hand on her shoulder but she recoiled.

"It's complicated."

"Sweetheart, I've been in hell before. There's no difference," I tell her.

"Mine is," she says as she stood up from the crate and turned her back on me, "...My mother. My real mother, Evelyn Smoak, was not the kind of mother you'd want to have. She never hit me. She never neglected me. She actually tried her best to take care of me. Unfortunately, she wasn't always the most careful person in the world and always ends up making the wrong decision. My mother was always the kind of person that preferred having a man to take care of her, which is the opposite of what I am, by the way." She sighs in deception before continuing, "My father, Colton, that was his name. Somehow, in school, I didn't want to be friends with any guy named Colton and my father is the main reason why I wouldn't. He and my mother met at a strip club. She used to dance a lot there. She got pregnant with me. My father wasn't too happy about it. He even wanted my mother to abort me but she refused. They got married after I was born. Something inside my father began to grow. Something dark," she said that with such venom, it's kind of hard to tell if it's Felicity talking anymore.

"As I grew, my father changed his mind and decided to be there for me, be a father and love me. He did. But in his own way, a way that my mother did not agree on. He wouldn't even let him touch me. He would always make me it on his lap for some reason I didn't know why until today. They used to fight a lot. Most of the fights were about me. Felicity this. Felicity that. And I kept thinking that maybe it's because of me they're fighting. Maybe it was my fault that my father left. I would see bruises on my mother. He was hitting her a lot. I considered running away but Donna would convince me to stay with her and my uncle Michael for the weekend. Michael is my father's younger brother. He was a great guy."

"What happened to Michael?"

"He died of lung cancer when I was fifteen. I was only four when my mother died."

"How did she die?" I didn't want to ask that question but I felt I had to.

"It was my father's birthday. He wanted to spend the entire day with me for his birthday and brought in a few friends and my uncle. My mom refused to let him take me with his friends, so, they planned to have the party in my house. I was playing with my uncle in the backyard and there were a lot of fights and yelling and screaming. I didn't know what was happening. My father left my home that day of his birthday and haven't heard from him in days," she said,"...but that night..." She placed a hand to her mouth and nose as she tried not to cry. Her face was already red. It made _me_ want to cry. "I was sleeping. I had this beautiful Raggedy Ann doll. I named her Annie. But I don't have her with me anymore. That night, I woke up after I heard a noise down there. I was thirsty anyways, so I went downstairs for some milk. I liked chocolate milk, so, I wanted chocolate milk. I go to the kitchen and..."

"Felicity..." I stand up from the crate and turned her around to face me. Her face was red and her eyes were rimmed with tears, her cheeks stained and her lips quivering.

"...My mother killed her, Sara." I stare at her widely as she said that. "Her wrists were slit open and she was holding a bloody knife in her hands. She said that everything was going to be all right before she dropped dead on the floor. There was so much blood on the floor. I called 9-1-1. She was already dead when they took her to the hospital."

I embraced her tightly and she kept crying. "I'm so sorry, Felicity. We didn't know. Why didn't you tell us?"

"...Because I wanted to forget. I wanted to forget as if it never happened. And I've been doing a good job so far. I went to my mother's funeral but I don't ever remember it. I don't remember what flowers they had for the funeral. I simply wanted to move on with my life. The memories wouldn't stop haunting me."

"I really am sorry, Felicity."

"...I just want the nightmares to end," she whispered, "I just want to go home."

The nightmares. That's what she's calling it. I'm considered about Felicity. Remembering what Laurel told me about the guys that died violently in their sleep. I'm scared that Felicity might end up the same since coincidently the victims are from Las Vegas like her. I know that something is off and if I'm right, Felicity might be in danger of becoming the next victim.

I drove her back to her apartment and I went back to my hideout. I'm really tired. I need to get some sleep after all this helluva going on. Slade trying to kill Oliver, Ra's a Gul wanting me back home and now we got this Freddy Krueger case where people are dying in their sleep. What the hell is happening here?

I throw myself on tattered couch, the only thing I have for a bed. Once I closed my eyes, something went askew. I tried to breathe but I couldn't. I felt like I was floated. It was cold. Next thing I know, there's water shooting up my nose. I opened up my eyes. I was under water. Not inside a bathtub or in a pool. I was in the ocean. Under water. I can taste the salt on my lips. Above me there was the boat Oliver and I were when we shipwrecked. I try to swim up to the surface but I couldn't reach for the boat. I keep sinking deeper and deeper, and my limbs were thrashing around like crazy. What is happening? Why am I back here? I tried screaming but only bubbles came out. I can't breathe.

I see a shadow. What is that? Is it a submarine? No, submarines don't turn sideways nor do they have teeth? It's a shark. And it was swimming right towards me, mouth open and teeth showing. I closed my eyes and screamed as it got closer and closer. Then, I suddenly found myself sitting on the couch, panting and trembling. It was all a nightmare. But it all felt so real. My clothes and hair were damp. I still had the taste of salt on my lips and I found scratches on my forearm that looked like it was grazed with razor sharp teeth. This was totally not a nightmare. Laurel needs to know about this and fast. Who knows if this is epidemic?

* * *

 **End of Chapter 12. Okay, this took a bit longer than I thought and I don't know if it's good. Let me know**.


	13. Chapter 13: Masquerade

**Chapter 13: Masquerade**

 **Daniel Zolghadri as Young Slade Wilson**

 **Tyler Blackburn as Wade DeFarge Wilson**

* * *

 _"So, this is my apartment. I hope you like it. I already made up your bedroom. I'll also be making dinner tonight. Well, macaroni & cheese doesn't really count if it's made in the microwave but it's still dinner. If you'd like to unpack and wash-up, be my guest. I'll just get things ready for you." I said as Rachel and I walked in. She only had a bag stuffed with clothes. She didn't have anything else except for a **Pride and Prejudice** book she was carrying in her hand. She didn't talk me on the way to my apartment. She didn't seem to want to talk to me. She didn't even say hello to me when I introduced myself to her. She simply stared at me before shaking my hand and going back to her book. _

_The first thing she did when we arrived at my apartment was sit down on the couch and open her book again. On Friday and Saturday, everything was silent. I didn't have a room prepared for her, so, she had to sleep on the couch. Things were too quiet as if she was not there. It's weird. At least she eats the meals I made. I made her macaroni & cheese and she ate the whole thing. She even lets me give her baths since she's only six and can really do things by herself yet. I would talk to her casually even if she would not respond in return. _

_One day she was just reading her book on the couch while I was watching TV when she snapped the book shut, placed it on the coffee table and turned her back on me. I'm guessing she finished reading **Pride and Prejudice** , and has nothing else to do while she's here. I mentally sigh. Well, Felicity, this is your last chance to get through this kid. Might as well try. _

_"You done reading?" I asked her. She didn't respond. She didn't even nod her head. I did that horse pout and patted my knees. "Do you want to watch TV with me? We can watch whatever you want. **The Looney Tunes** , **Tom and Jerry** , **SpongeBob** or **Flintstones**. You name it and I'll change the channel." She shook her head. Yeah, not working. "...So, the book you were reading...is it good?" There was a pause before she nodded. At least that's something. _

_"I've never read the book before, do you want to tell what it's about?" I asked._

 _"...Read the plot on the back," she said without turning to face me._

 _She speaks. **Hallelujah**. I was getting worried there for a second, not that I thought she was mute. I was afraid this job would be pointless. But there was hope. _

_"Oh. Okay, I'll read the plot on the back." I said before taking the book from the coffee table. I knew the explanation of the plot of the book would be written on the back. I was just trying to get her attention. Besides, I have already read the book. "So, you brought any other books to read?" I asked and she shook her head. "I have books. I have plenty of books. Well, I don't have a full library but I have a lot of books."_

 _There was a very long moment of silence which worried me a lot. Finally, she turns to face me and blinks._

 _"What kind of books?" she asks neutrally. BINGO! I didn't even try holding back a smile of victory._

 _"What books do you like?" I asked._

 _"Mystery. Adventures. Classics."_

 _"I have those kinds of books," I said, "Have you ever read **The Jungle Book** by Rudyard Kipling?"_

 _"...No. Is it good?"_

 _I stood up from the couch and stretched out my hand._

 _"Yeah. Come on. I'll show you," I tell her._

 _She hesitated at first. She still didn't trust me back then. But she slowly place her hand into mine and guided her from the living room to my office space where I had a desk with my computers that I was able to retrieve from Verdant before it was shutdown and a tall shelf full of books. I mostly had books from science and mathematics and an encyclopedia of how to hack. But I also have literature I read when I'm bored. I'm not a freak. Well, technically, I am. But not that freakish. Anyways, I have showed the book I mentioned. I also showed her other books she might like. She told me bribery is wrong and very sneaky but she gave me a smile either way. Finally! She smiles!_

* * *

I brought Rachel to Big Belly Burgers today like I promised. She was staying with me on the weekends. It was Friday, so, we have all the time we need to catch. I had so many situations in my hands that having a free time to babysit Rachel had become complicated. The coma. My new powers. Slade. The kidnapping. My father. It has been complete chaos. I am just glad that I get weekends off from work or I'd be going crazy. I was getting tired of looking Slade, Isabel or Oliver. I have not spoken a word to Slade after what happened yesterday nor have I spoken to Oliver either. I was giving them both the silent treatment. Slade for kidnapping me and threatening Donna, and Oliver for acting like an asshole. I only did a few things for Slade: giving out his morning coffee, giving out layouts, passing out important phone calls to him and announcing his board meetings or when someone comes to meet him. But he and I didn't pass from that level. I kept my relationship with him as his executive assistant and so far, he has not made any remarks or any conversation with me that does not have to do with work. I think he got the message clear yesterday and decided not to bother with me anymore. Good. He better get it straight and I think Isabel got the message as well to never mess with me again. She won't even make eye contact with me every time she gives me orders. I simply do them as if I was an ordinary executive assistant. Everything I did today was professional. Nothing more. I even ignored the other employees whispering about the fight between me and her. They were asking themselves why Slade didn't fire me yet while others secretly praised me for giving Isabel a taste of what she deserved. Honestly, that was nothing compared to what I would have done to her.

Anyways, things have been weirdly normal today. Like I said, I Rachel to my favourite fast food restaurant like I promised. She has never tasted a hamburger before, can you believe that? She has never even tried a French fry. I can tell because she keeps staring at one in her hands strangely.

"First tries are always the strangest," I tell her before taking a bite out of my hamburger.

"Are you sure it's good?" she asked me.

"Trust me, Rachel, it's good," I tell her, "Of course, for a first timer like you, I suggest you dip the fry in the milkshake."

"I'm basically dipping grease into sugar…" she trailed off before asking, "Is that a good idea?"

"Trust me."

Rachel shrugs her shoulders before dipping the French fry into the chocolate milkshake I brought. Then, she ate.

"Hmm." Her face contorted a bit but then she smiles at me, "It's good."

"Told ya so," I chuckled. "...Didn't your mother ever take you to try a hamburger?"

That question made her smile disappear. "Umm, I don't really like talking about my mother."

"...I'm sorry," I apologized, "That was the wrong question."

"It's okay. You're not the first person who asked questions of my mother. But nah, she never took me to eat hamburgers. She was too busy keeping me safe," she said.

"May I ask from what exactly?" Wow. I can't seem to shut up now do I? I never wanted to ask her this. The caretaker of the orphanage forbade us to ask personal questions to the children while having them for the weekend. I hope I don't get fire from this. I'd hate to be separated from Rachel now that we were getting along so well.

"I think my dad," she said. Her father? "I don't know why. She told me my father is a bad man."

I can relate. My father is a bad man as well. My mother gave everything to keep him away from me. But it only resulted with her demise. The GCPD don't really know what really happened the night they found Rachel and neither does she. They simply found her next to her dead mother's body in an alleyway. Rachel was clutching her mother's body, I believe that's what the record reported. It also reported that Rachel was growling at the police when they found her, and she was covered in blood. They described her as a vampire. They wanted to lock her up in an asylum till the death of her mother was investigated but due to her small age, they were forbidden to confine her into isolation and decided to place her in an orphanage. She would not be adopted till the investigation is completed and she would be constantly watched. That's sad. For the past few months, Rachel has never attacked anyone. On the contrary, she is the most isolated kid in the orphanage. She place chess by herself, she reads books in dark corners and keeps drawing these eerie-looking ravens. She has done no harm to anyone, so far.

"Like yours," she suddenly said.

I look at her perplexed. What?

"Isn't your father a bad man?" she asked and scrutinized at me seriously. How does she know about my father?

"Rachel, where did you hear that?" I asked her. Hearing that question from her terrifies me a bit.

"...There was a man a few days ago," she began, "He was tall. He was wearing a black coat." The way she was saying it, it sent chills up my spine. It's like listening something out of a horror audiobook. "He had dark hair and he was a little old."

"Did he got any close to you?" I asked anxiously but she shook her head side to side slowly.

"He was behind the gate outside the orphanage. He wanted me to come closer but I refused and went back inside." I sigh of relief. I'm glad she didn't do what other kids might do out of curiosity, going up to strangers that might be harmful. "He had something in his hands. It was a doll." A doll? The image of a Raggedy Anna doll pictured into my head. "It was a Raggedy Ann doll." Annie. "Her face was covered in blood." I remember dropping my Raggedy Ann doll in the pool of blood that surrounded my dead mother. Blood had covered her face. I had left my doll in the old house when my mother died. I never took it with me. I never wanted to sleep with it again now covered in my mother's blood. Only one person could have gotten the doll from the old house. My father. Colton Smoak. He has stalked Rachel Roth and knows where she stays. He also visited my workplace, as told by Slade. He knows where I work. He knows what I do when I'm not working at Queens Consolidated. If he finds out where I live, I'm in big trouble.

"Who was he, Felly?" she asked me "Because he seems to know _you_." Just seeing Rachel knowing all this without explanation freaks me out. It's like she's reading my mind. Should I like to her? Lie to Rachel? No. I can't do that to her. There has been enough secret being withheld. I am not Oliver.

"He...He's my father. Colton Smoak," I sigh in deception and her blue eyes widened, "He lived with me and my mother in Las Vegas, Nevada. But he's a very bad man, Rachel. Whatever you do, don't let him near you."

"What does he want with me?" she asks anxiously. I can tell she's afraid. Who wouldn't be.

"It's not you that he wants. It's me." He just wants to use Rachel as bait to get through me. He'll do anything just to get to me.

"What does he want with you?"

"I don't know." I honestly don't know what my father wants with me. He already ruined my life. Whatever reason he has for seeking me out, it's not good. He wants to hurt me. I know it. If he ever tries to go near Rachel again, I'll make sure he knows I'm not the same little girl he created.

* * *

 _Slade's POV_

 _I located Adeline Kane's school. It was a Catholic private school. Urgh. I hate those kinds of schools. All those weird uniforms. That is why I don't go there. Of course, I don't go to school anymore. I'm in the streets now. No home. No parents. A murderous brother and guilt eating me alive._

 _I saw kids of my age (younger or older) walking in and out of the school building wearing white shirts, black pressed pants and skirts, and navy blue blazers with the school's emblem on the left shoulder. I asked where Adeline's school is, pretending to say that I'm from the private school a few blocks away from this. I told them I borrowed a book from her. What I didn't know is that they had gates surrounding the premises, keeping outsiders from entering the Catholic school. It even had a padlock. But that won't stop kids from jumping over the fence unless they have barbwires. No. These gates have spades. What kind of school is this? This is like a prison._

 _"_ _What are you doing here?" I recognize the Russian accent._

 _Adeline Kane is here. She was sitting on the staircase near the entrance. She spotted me and climbed down the stairs to meet me. The only thing keeping us apart, literally speaking is these creepy gates. Her brown hair was tied in a braid over her shoulder and was carrying a pink Sleeping Beauty backpack._

 _"_ _Just wanted to see what school you go to," I said._

 _"_ _You stalking me?" she asked._

 _"_ _Yes…I mean, no. Maybe," I stammered, "I'm not actually stalking you. It's more like following."_

 _"_ _It's the same thing," she said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me. This is not going well as I hoped. Nothing is going to stop her from yelling out to the nuns/teachers for help. I'm a dead man._

 _"_ _Oh. Sorry. Listen, I just came here to apologize for what happened yesterday, for how things were left off. And I was hoping we could talk in private."_

 _"_ _I don't think it's a good idea," she said, shaking her head, "The nuns are strict here. They will not permit outsiders."_

 _"_ _Maybe_ _ **after**_ _school. There's a candy store a few blocks away. Can't we meet each other there?"_

 _"_ _I don't know. I mean, I don't trust you. You just lied to me about my grandfather. Why should I even accept your invitation?"_

 _"_ _Please, I promise that it's worth it. I won't be wasting your time," I was practically begging. I hated begging._

 _"…_ _Fine."_

 _A few hours passed and the bell rang. When Adeline stepped out of the building, we went to the candy store I told her about. We were both having milkshakes near the large window that view the streets. I bought my milkshake with money I pickpocketed from a bystander, pretending to bump into him while snatching the wallet from his coat and apologizing afterwards. She was having strawberry. Mine was chocolate. They both had whipcream and a cherry on top. Why must we always like whipcream more than the milkshake itself._

 _"Here," I offered her the cherry. "You can have it if you like. I don't really like cherries."_

 _"Thanks," she said as she took the cherry from my hands and ate it. "Why did you bring me here?"_

 _Wow, she likes cutting to the chase. She's not stupid._

 _"I wanted to apologize about how things were left out," I said to her, "And I think you didn't deserve that."_

 _"I think it is my grandfather who did not deserve his demise," she said. And she keeps reminding me about her grandfather my brother stabbed in the alleyway. This is a guilt trip. God._

 _"Look. I really am sorry about what happened to your grandfather," I said, "but I didn't kill him. I promise."_

 _There was no one in the candy store except for us two so no one was actually listening. It was raining outside. Also, the manager was at back. We had the place all to ourselves._

 _"But you know who did it," she said._

 _"I **saw** who did it but I don't know who he is," I lied. I didn't want to get Wade into trouble by bringing him up. He may have done bad things. But he's still my brother. _

_"Why do I get the feeling you are still lying to me?"_

 _"Why can't you believe me?"_

 _"I cannot believe in someone who brought back a wallet from the very place my grandfather was murdered," she said._

 _She has a point there. I wouldn't trust me either. I'm just trying to protect my brother. I just don't know how long I can keep up the lies. It's only a matter of time before she finds out who really killed her grandfather._

 _"...It was a man older than me. In his early twenties with dark hair like mine," I tell her, "He stabbed him with a pocketknife multiple times till he dropped dead. The man's face was covered in blood. He took out the wallet, took the money from it and tossed the rest aside. It landed behind the dumpster. When he saw me, I ran away because Ii was afraid he would kill me also."_

 _Please believe my story. Please believe my story._

 _"What is your name?" she asked. Should I really tell her my name? Will she go to the police to tell my name and suffer the risk of having them up my ass looking for me? I don't want to go back to my father and neither does Wade._

 _"...My name is Slade Wilson." And yet I managed to open my big mouth to say it. "And yours?" I ask even if I already know her name. I'm not good talking to girls, okay?_

 _"Adeline Kane," she said, "People call me Addie. Slade's sort of a weird name."_

 _"It wasn't **my** idea. Where are you from?"_

 _"Moscow," she said, "And you?"_

 _"Well, obviously here in Australia," I said._

 _"You look Maori descendant," she said._

 _"I am one."_

 _"Where are your parents? Last time I checked, you were alone."_

 _"What are you the police?" I asked and she frowned at me. "Sorry...My mother died when I was smaller and my father is a drunk. So it's just me and my brother. My mother died of cancer."_

 _"I'm sorry to hear that."_

 _"What about your parents? Why are you living with your grandparents instead of living with your actual parents?" I asked even if I should know better than to be intrusive. Hey, she asked about my family, so, it's pretty fair if I asked her as well._

 _"My parents died in a car accident when I was little," she said, "They died in Moscow and I was sent here to live with my grandmother and grandfather. Now I simply live with my grandmother now that Grandfather Abraham is dead."_

 _"I really am sorry that your grandfather died. I really am."_

 _"...It's okay," she said with a small smile, "It is not like you could have done anything to stop it."_

 _"And if I could?"_

 _"...I don't know," she said._

 _What if I could have prevented Wade from stabbing the old man? Would anything be different? Who I have still Adeline even without her grandfather dying? Or would it just be the same except that Wade would be stabbing someone else? I think it would be and I'd be stuck in the same situation of another familiar member with a vendetta for the death._

* * *

I look over at Felicity's desk with a frown. It's empty. She's not here today. Where is she? It's unlike her to miss work without notifying me unless she resigned.

Oliver walks in. Oh, how I despise staring at him at this moment when my schedule is occupied this moment but if anyone knows where Felicity Smoak is located is him. I am concerned that she may have resigned the position in Queens Consolidated and decided to return to the IT Department to search for a new company to work for.

"Mr. Queen," I said, "Where's Miss Smoak?"

"She's taking the day off," he tells me, "If you have not read Felicity's expedient, she takes days off on Saturday and Sundays."

"She seems to take day offs _almost_ every day," I commented and he frowns at me. I chuckle. How I enjoy seeing him angry, "It's disappointing, actually. I needed her help sending out invitation for a mascaraed party I will be having tonight. All the employees that work for Queens Consolidated are invited to it which also includes you and Miss Smoak. I think your sister would enjoy going as well."

"I really doubt that," he says darkly, "I'll have another of the secretaries to send them."

"Here's the drive," I gave the thumb-drive where the invitations are contained but nothing more. "It contains the invitations I had designed and nothing else in it. Lose the drive and I will have you fired."

"Very well," he said before taking the drive and walking out of my office which used to be his. I enjoy seeing that he has lost his company and now has to work for me.

The mascaraed I shall have tonight will be located in the Merlyn Mansion where Isabel and I are residing. The intention of the mascaraed is to celebrate or sealing of our investment deals. Also, I intend to apologize to investors for the scandalous behaviour Felicity Smoak and Isabel Rochev provoked the morning before. It was not polite from either of them. They would be both be punished for their foolishness. Of course, Isabel had explained that she might have been the one who provoke Felicity to attack her. Another mistake she has done. If she fails once more, she will meet her demise. There are many ways to kill a person in Mirakuru. Beheading them is an example. I will not behead her today. But she will be beheaded when she least expects it. I sigh at the stressful thought of the party I have arranged overnight. I had the servants have everything ready. I warned them that there will be fatal consequences if things are not in order when I return. I have made it very clear in the invitation that all guests must wear masks.

Something suddenly catches my eye. A boy. He entered the area outside my office near Felicity Smoak's desk, looking around as if he was searching for something. The boy somehow reminded me of my brother Wade with the same hair except younger and a tad fuller, his face almost oval-shaped while my brother's face was sharp. Also, Wade had a goatee. This boy's face was clean as a baby's ass. He wore clothes as if he just came out from school. And his clothes were too casual and thrown in together: a light grey coat with baggy blue jeans, beat up sneakers and a green T-shirt with a Velociraptor on it. This kid obviously did not enter the building for no reason unless he enjoys getting caught by security.

"Is there something you need?" I asked him out loud. He looks at me in surprise. He stammered a bit. That's when the security guard arrived and grabbed him by the arm.

"Sorry, Mr. Wilson," the guard said, "I tried to stop him. Should I kick him out?"

"Depends on the reason of the intrusion," I say.

"I – I'm here to see Felicity Smoak," he says, "Is she around?"

I look at the security guard skeptically and he gave me that same. I have already heard this before, a bit of a déjà vu to be exact when Colton Smoak entered the building in the middle of the night to ask for Felicity's location which I refused to give him. This boy seems familiar though. I've seen him before somewhere.

"I'm a friend of hers," he says.

"State your name," I commanded.

"My name is Cisco. Cisco Ramon," he said nervously, "I came to see her. I have to tell her something important. Is she here?"

"No, unfortunately," I said. Never in my life have I wished for her presence right now. Her constant babble is what keeps me in a good mood.

"Oh, okay," he shrugs his shoulders before taking out his phone from his jacket's pockets, "I'll just call her and let her know I was here."

"Let's talk first," I said before turning to the guard, "You may leave." The guard left and the boy named Cisco entered my office. I asked him to sit down and he did. "How old are you?"

"I'm 23," he said. He looks younger than 23. "I'm a student graduate from MIT, that's originally where Felicity and I first met along with my friend Caitlin and a few others. We worked at S.T.A.R. Labs back at Central City."

"Ah, you were the boy who was attacked by a man in a mask with a brunette girl," I said.

"Yeah," he nodded, "Caitlin and I almost got killed by some psychopath in a black and orange mask. Luckily, I blinded him with the blaster Dr. Arthur Light. I hear that he owns a company now that makes high-quality medical equipment. That was quite an accomplish ―Wait a second. We never told anyone about the attack except for the executive assistant in S.T.A.R. Labs. The incident wasn't even broadcasted in Starling City News yet."

"I've read it on the Internet like everyone else does."

"No," he said. He was silent for a moment as if deep in thought. Then, a grin appeared across his face. He knew. "It was you. Of course it had to be you. Who else could have known about gun-ray I used to stun the guy. It was you the whole time."

"Am I really that obvious?" I said sarcastically.

"Well, you have the same voice," he said, "which is kind of a giveaway. Also, you're missing an eye which is also an obvious giveaway."

I'll have to give him credit for that. My voice does sound similar to the one my Deathstroke ego. Interesting to know that Dr. Arthur Light used to work at S.T.A.R. Labs with those brats. I still remember that day. I would have made their deaths quick and painless if it wasn't for him blasting a wave of light in my face. I'm not angry with him about though. I have always expected my victims to defend themselves. Well, that is before their demise. I admire his tactics of defense. I also admire his courage of coming here, knowing that he would get in trouble entering the building without authorization. What does bother me is that he already knows my secret.

"You caught me red-handed then," I said, "What do you plan using with this information now that you know."

"Did you know I originally thought of the name Deathstroke for you before A.R.G.U.S. stole my idea? I usually am the one naming the heroes and villains. You know like the Flash, Captain Cold, Heatwave and Zoom among other names. Deathstroke was the next one I came up with. Usually I just put information on my blog back at S.T.A.R. Labs but the way I see things, I think I rather live.."

"As I once said to a friend of mine, the name sounds a bit flamboyant," I said. I said it once to Oliver when I was arrested in SCPD for interrogation of Thea Queen's kidnapping, "I still like it."

I smile. Wise choice. I have no needs to get my hands dirty today. I need my hands clean and untainted for tonight. I would hate to wear gloves on tonight's event. I once wore gloves. An anonymous man said I looked like Mickey Mouse wearing gloves. I dislocated his shoulder for that. I am somehow beginning to realize I need to work on my temperamental issues. I have no patience with negative compliments or insults. I could have strangled Felicity for offending Shado's name. But I didn't. I let her live which is the opposite of what I wanted. I wanted to kill her, to make Oliver suffer. Now, I am not so sure. Felicity Smoak is a wonderful girl. Intelligent and pretty. Those two things are a deadly combination. Right now she is simply confused and afraid of her new abilities and angry with me for the kidnapping earlier.

"You're probably wondering why I came here looking for Felicity, right?" he asked.

"Is there another reason?"

"I actually have some important information about her current medical condition and thought I should discuss about with her," he explained. Even if I wasn't the most intelligent man in the world, I would have seen this as a load of bullshit.

"Usually, if you were a real doctor, you would simply call from a hospital instead of having personal meetings," I said.

"Haven't you ever heard of house calls?" he said. He's smart. I like him. Isabel would tell me to kill him since she was exchanging dirty looks towards me. But I won't. He seems like a nice boy. Besides, he may be useful for us one day. "I just want to discuss the conditions of her previous situation. You know, the night she got shocked by William Tockman?"

"Understood." Another lie that I unfortunately had to pretend to fall for.

"Yeah, it's just an MRI result," he said.

"Very well," I said, "Miss Smoak is taking the weekend off. You may leave your name and number for me to notify your arrival but I'm afraid I am not allowed to reveal her location."

"Yeah, sure," he nodded. I gave him a notepad where he wrote down his name and phone number. "I have her number though. I can just call her on the way out."

"Of course," I nodded in agreement, "I'll walk you out."

"Oh, um, okay," he says almost in confusion.

I led him out of my office to the elevator. On our way to the elevator, he kept talking, telling me how he admired my choice of uniform. He says that my armour was well-made but still thinks it needs a few details to be made. He considers my armour faulty and easy to pierce if not by a bullet. He says that if I wish to avoid being shot or stabbed more effectively, he suggests using a new type of metal the government's been creating in secret called Promethium which will reject physical attacks as well as artificial attacks and resistant to fire. He also suggests that my sword should be much sharper. So, he believes my swords are dull? Interesting. This boy. Cisco is his name. He knows my secret. And yet, he does not seem frightened of it, including the fact I nearly terminated him and his little brunette friend. He seems more excited than afraid. I'll have to take care of the situation before the secret comes out. Should I kill him or should I not? Killing him here and now does not sound like a wise decision. The image of me dragging the boy's body across the parking lot to the back of my car and leaving a trail is all too laughable for me to imagine. Felicity Smoak is already angry at me for threatening her mother, the least last thing I would need is to piss her off by killing one of her friends right now. I can deal with this kid later.

"You do realize that if you repeat this information to anyone outside the building, I will snap your neck in half like a twig. Do you understand?" I threatened and he gulped nervously before nodding in agreement. Good. I'm glad we have an understanding and I don't have to waste my energy killing him. When the elevator arrived, he stumbles inside the shaft and says goodbye before the doors closes. He seems to be a really nice boy. Pity he looks too much like my brother. It's difficult to talk to him when he looks so much like the person you both love and hated most.

It's time to get ready for tonight, whether I like it or not.

* * *

 **Oliver's POV**

"No!" Felicity snaps at me when I told her about the invitation to the Merlyn Mansion for some kind of party Slade is throwing for the investors. Of course, as Sara has told me, she said no. She was still angry about the kidnapping. She even slapped him in the face and beat Isabel to prove it.

"Why not?"

"You know why Oliver!" she kept ranting as we went to the Clocktower. Sara stayed downstairs with some kid Felicity brought in. How many times do I have to say it? No kids allowed. I've already explained it to Diggle. They make me uncomfortable. Anyways, I can't allow Felicity make excuses into not going (even if she does have an excuse, more than two). I need her. Sure, if I was allowed, I would have taken Sara. But the invitation strictly says that only members of the Queens Consolidated are allowed to go which means that I can't take Sara. Also, Diggle is my bodyguard and really does not count as a Queens Consolidated employee. Felicity is my only option. I need to plant hidden cameras in Slade's house so I can see what's going on and what his next plan of attack is. I can't do this without her. "Why can't you take Sara!? Or Diggle?"

"Whoa, hey, hold on there, girl," Diggle raises his hands and lowers them down on her shoulders, "I ain't gay."

Felicity simply rolls her eyes in annoyance.

"I can't take Sara because Slade only allowed employees from Queens Consolidated to go to this party which includes me and you," I explained. "Besides, we have full access to the mansion now with the invitation. We're just going to plant cameras in his house so we can figure out what his next move is."

"I'm not going," she snapped.

"Why not? This is our chance to take down Slade."

"A bunch of mini cameras hidden in every corner is not going to help stop Slade," she growled irritably.

"She's got a point, Oliver," Diggle said.

"You're not helping," I said before turning to her. She was already sitting in front of her computers, "Maybe the cameras won't help but if we show Detective Lance the evidence that Slade Wilson was behind all of this, we can take him down easily for sure."

"Oh, and what? You're going to send a group of policemen to arrest a former military soldier pumped up on Mirakuru with a vendetta against you soap opera style? You and I both know that's never gonna happen. Detective Lance already thinks that Slade is not responsible for my kidnapping and already thinks that Deathstroke is dead for good. So, I don't think cameras are any help at all."

"We could at least try," I said. There's no harm in trying, just until we get the cure on our hands.

"I think you did not hear me clearly, I said I'm not going," she said.

Wow. The coma really did change her. This not the same Felicity. I feel like I'm talking to someone else instead of her.

"You should at least give me another good reason why you don't want to go besides the kidnapping incident," I urged. I know that I'm risking getting my ears blown off with those new abilities of hers but it's worth a shot of getting her to agree to come with me to the party. If I go alone, I'm risking getting killed.

"Number 1, I still haven't gotten over that night. I'm still pissed because of it by the way. Number 2, I am babysitting Rachel right now on my weekend off and can't just leave her by herself while you and I are together tonight at a villains house just to plant some stupid camera. Number 3, the answer is _no_!"

"I can watch over her if you like," Sara suddenly appears in our _lair_ and behind her was the little girl Felicity brought in. Rachel Roth is her name. What the hell? Why did Sara bring her up? I thought I told her to stay downstairs with the kid, not bring her up here. We all stared at Sara in disbelief, "…Sorry, I'd thought it'll be okay bringing her up here since we don't officially have a place of our own."

"Sara, I don't feel very comfortable with kids here," I told her. The little girl simply frowned at me.

"Actually, _I_ don't mind Sara bringing her up here," I hear Felicity say as she stood up from her chair. The little girl runs to her and wraps her arms around her thighs. She's really small. Felicity says she's six but she seems younger than that.

"Is this where you work?" she asks, looking around in amazement. I can see the sparkle in those bright eyes of hers. Wow, they're really blue.

"Well, at night, yeah," Felicity said, smiling at her.

"Cool." She sits on the chair Felicity sat early and starts spinning around.

"Aw, she's so cute," Sara grinned.

"She doesn't like being called cute though," Felicity says.

"I do not like being called cute," the little girl said as she kept spinning herself on the chair.

"Where did you find her?" Diggle asked.

"Actually she was assigned to me. I volunteered to take care of Rachel for very classified reason which I will not mention here in her presence," she says.

"Felicity!" I snapped and everyone just stared at me like I was crazy or something. "Can we talk in private, please?"

She sighs in frustration. "Fine. Be right back, Rachel. Sara, watch her please."

"Sure, no problem."

We went downstairs where we could talk in private without the kid around. Like I said, it just doesn't feel comfortable talking about the Arrow in front of her. I don't know why Felicity even brought her here. I know that she's working taking care of the kid on the weekends, something about being a substitute foster mom. But still. She should know better than bringing her here.

"I understand that bringing Rachel here is a bad idea for you but don't ever snap at me like that in front of her. Do we have an understanding?" she whispered angrily.

"Felicity ―."

"Do we have an _understanding_?"

"Yes, fine. Listen, forget about the kid for just a second ―."

"Her name is Rachel," she corrected me.

"Okay, fine, Rachel. Can we just forget about Rachel for a second and focus on the situation we have right now?"

She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me.

"Listen, I understand that you're still upset about what happen. I understand that Slade scared you and your mom, and you're probably too scared to go on with the mission. But I need you right now. Think of your mother right now. Slade knows about your mother and knows where you both live. He already kidnapped you both once. What's going to stop him from doing it again or do something worse? And Rachel? What's going to happen to her? Do you really think he won't go after her too if he finds out about her? Please, Felicity, just try to consider it. We need you. I need you. And I promise you that after this, you can leave the party whenever you want, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. We just plant the cameras and go home."

She bit her lower and stayed silent, deep in thought. Finally, she spoke: "Fine. I'm going. But I'm not going to like it."

"Thank you."

"Now, I just have to figure out what to wear," she said.

"It's a masquerade," said.

"I'll see what I can do about that in the next few hours of free time I have left then," she said, adjusting her glasses, "First, I got to tell Rachel I'll be working tonight and she'll be staying with Sara for tonight….You better pay me extra for doing this shit."

With that, she goes upstairs again, leaving me down here alone. It's sad to see how much of the old Felicity is fading away and this new intruder came in, misbalancing the friendship we have. Slade is right in most of the part. The Felicity that woke up from the coma is not the same person we know. She has changed. Her new abilities and her new attitude. It's unlike her. Also, she's no longer wearing her hair up in a ponytail which makes it difficult to adjust. I hope she's willing to forgive me for making her do this, that is if she's still the same forgiving person.

* * *

 **Felicity's POV**

Why are we changing so much? What makes life change who we are? When we suffer throughout something, we do we suddenly change into a different person? Do we really end broken because of it? Jerome once told me that changes are good even if the changes he have made were not so good at all. In fact, his changes of life were insane. He was now in Arkham Asylum getting mental help after the murder of his mother which he caused. He actually sent me a letter yesterday, asking how I was doing. It was sort of unnerving knowing that he actually had access to send letters to me. What was worse is that I don't know if the letter was written in red ink or blood.

I look at myself in the mirror as Sara was doing my hair, making it curly and soft at the same time. I was wearing a long flowing white that (to be honest) used to be my mother's wedding dress, which she gave to me for my wedding – if I had one. But even if I had my own wedding, I wouldn't use this at my own wedding. It's too plain. The sleeves of the dress were down, exposing my shoulders, collarbone and neck. It's a fine detail yet it's risking exposing my week point. I'm exposed too easily to danger. And I was feeling cold already. I wasn't wearing make-up like Sara suggested. I don't feel I needed it. I was going plain and simply. I won't be wearing gloves or heavy jewelry. I even discarded my glasses for tonight and decided to wear my contact lenses since the invitation strictly says that everyone must be wearing a mask. At least, an eye mask. Rachel helped me pick out a lovely white swan-feathered eye-mask. It was very pretty. Rachel and Sara complimented my dress. They thought I looked beautiful, which is the opposite of what I thought.

I gave Sara instructions of taking care of Rachel while I was gone with Oliver. She likes macaroni and cheese for dinner every time she's with me on the weekends. She likes to read books and if Sara wants to play with her, they should either play chess or play cards. Rachel isn't the kind of person that likes doing activities. She will not leave the windows open because the draft will give her a cold easily. Also, she has to give her warm milk and tuck her in before putting her to bed. I don't know why but she always felt safe wrapped around the sheets and comforter like a caterpillar. She also likes warm showers and also needs a stool when she needs to brush her teeth. Also, if she has a bathroom nearby, leave the light on. Rachel is somehow afraid of the dark. She doesn't mind sleeping in the dark but waking up in the dark is another story. It's a little strange and it's a lot to do but I'm sure Sara can handle it. I trust her. She knows what to do…I hope. Has she ever babysit before?

Oliver and I arrived at the Merlyn Mansion at eight o' clock. The party was at 7: 30. We were already late as it is. The Merlyn Mansion. One of Oliver's ghosts has come back to haunt him with memories of his best friend Tommy and his father Malcolm Merlyn. The atmosphere feels unusual now that it's occupied by Slade. I feel like I'm heading to a haunted mansion which I'm scared of never coming out. I tensed a little bit and kept my arm around Oliver's tightly. If I am not careful, I can actually rip his arm off by accident. My stomach was tightening nervously. I took a few deep breaths. Then we go to the house. Diggle will pick us as soon as Oliver gives him a call which he hopes is soon.

When we entered the mansion, I suddenly felt like I was in _The Phantom of the Opera_ movie except that there was no singing. I hope there's no singing. I don't sing. There were so many people dressed beautiful and wearing masks, most of them feathered eye-mask of different colours. Most of them were dressed in black, red, dark green, purple and dark blue. Dark colours. Oliver was also wearing dark colours. His suit was black. So much for splitting up like we planned. How am I supposed to meet up with Oliver if almost every man is wearing the exact same colour? Does he expect me to lift up every mask to find him? Damn it. Unless he has to find me first. Here's the thing…I'm the only one dressed in white. Great. I feel out of place…again.

"We'll start planting the cameras in exact 20 minutes," Oliver whispered in my ear and I nodded in agreement.

Many of the guests were simply chatting or laughing while having a drink of wine. Some of them dance the waltz. Violin music was playing. We both saw Ray Palmer, Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor and Arthur Light chatting in a corner. Dr. Arthur Light is the only one without a date. Also, he's drunk. Too much wine. If he even tries asking me to dance, shoot me. Just shoot me.

"That is if Slade doesn't catch us first," I replied, "Also, you're going to have to find me instead. Every guy I see right now is wearing black and grey."

"How am I supposed to find you?" he asks. Did he really just ask that? Is this really a good time to ask stupid questions?

"I'm the only one wearing white," I reminded. "How many blonde girls in white dresses do you see? That's right. One. I feel out of place, damn it."

"Come on. You look great," he complimented.

"Thanks," I mutter.

"Mr. Queen."

I cringe at the sound of Slade's voice. I notice Oliver stiffen as he and Isabel approached us. Shit. This is not going to end well. This is a bad idea. A very bad idea. I should have kept saying no till Oliver eventually bugged off even if he was right. Still, being in Slade's presence make me feel uneasy. He was wearing a light grey suit while Isabel was wearing a blood red sleeveless mermaid dress with glittery ruby red feather mask and her hair tied back in a bun; it suits her unfortunately. At least it wasn't dark. Also, he's the only one not wearing a mask. As the one throwing the party, I'm guessing he can do whatever he wants. Does the eyepatch can be considered as a mask at a party? No? Yes? Just me?

"I am very glad you could join us," Slade smiled at both of us, "I was afraid you wouldn't make it."

"We hit traffic," Oliver lied. I pursed my lips, trying to hold back my laugh.

"No matter," he said, "I am glad you could join us, as well as you Miss Smoak." He looked at me from head to toe before smiling at me thoughtfully. "You look lovely."

"Thank you," I said.

Slade continued to stare at me. Isabel gave me the fakest smile anyone could ever give, trying to pretend that the beating I gave her at Queens Consolidated never happened even if it did. There's a saying. You can forgive but never forget. In Isabel's case, she will not forgive nor will she forget. I'm scared of that. She can kill me and everyone would not notice I'm gone since they are all too busy talking, dancing and drinking. The red dress suits her. She's the devil.

"I hope there are no hard feelings from our current situation," he said. Yes there are you asshole.

"No," Oliver gave them both another fake smile, "Not at all."

There was a long term silence which was freaking me out a little bit. Can we just not enjoy a party like normal people.

"Come," Slade said, "Our guests have been waiting for your arrival."

We went to the spot where the investors stood with their dates all except for Arthur Light. We saluted them. The women that accompanied the investors shook hands with me. One of them had a very strong grasp and I thought she broke the bones of my fingers. She was very pretty though. I couldn't really see her face because she was wearing a mask but I could tell she was pretty, a lot prettier than me. She was wearing a deep wine dress with long sleeves and a low round collar. Her black hair was tied back in a bun as well as Isabel's. Her lips were red. This woman is with Bruce Wayne. She wasn't very talkative as the other two.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Queen, and you Miss Smoak," Mr. Wayne shook hands with me and Oliver. "This is Diana Prince," he introduced the woman to us. She nodded to us. "Glad you could join us."

"Thank you, Mr. Wayne," Oliver said. "How long have you and Miss Prince met each other?"

"For quite some time," she finally spoke, "but if you ask _how_ we met…now _that_ is a long story."

"A _very_ long story," Mr. Wayne said uncomfortably.

"Then I hope it's worth hearing," Slade said. I almost forgot he was here along with Isabel.

I notice Miss Prince's facial expression change. She looked a bit uncomfortable as if she was having a headache and was trying desperately to hold it in. She took a sip of her red wine before whispering something into Mr. Wayne's ear. I didn't really catch what she said what I did hear the word _Manhunter_ at the beginning. What's a Manhunter?

"I would love to stay and chat, Mr. Wilson but something's come and right now Diana and I need to go," Mr. Wayne said.

"It's a pity you cannot stay," Slade said.

"Yes, it is," he said almost sarcastically, "Another time, perhaps. Come along, Diana."

Miss Prince wrapped her arm around Mr. Wayne's. She looked at me and nodded her head. "Goodbye." Then, they walk away. There was a V-shape opening on the back of her wine dress, revealing most of her back. I noticed that she had faint scars, almost everywhere on her back. Scars. How the hell did she get those scars? They look more like battle scars, some almost similar to Oliver's scars.

"Well, she seems _friendly_ ," Ray complimented.

"She doesn't talk much, don't you think?" Oliver said.

"At least she said _hello_ ," Ray joked.

"And _goodbye_ ," Mr. Luthor chuckled.

"Well, then, enough chatter," Slade spoke up, "Let us enjoy the party. We are all standing here like bunch of fools instead of asking these lovely ladies to dance."

"Of course," Mr. Luthor said, "How rude of us to leave our ladies unattended. Come along dear." He took his date by the hand and led her into the crowd of people dancing the waltz. Shit. Do I really have to dance? I don't want to dance. Oliver better not make me dance.

"My lady Jean," Ray bowed his head to his date and teased in a fake British accent, "May we dance?"

"Knock it off, Ray," the woman said as she smacked him on the shoulder before they both have gone to dance together. Dr. Light excused himself, saying he was going to get another drink. I think he needs to go home soon before he gets too drunk.

"Miss Rochev," Oliver suddenly spoke up, "Would you like to dance with me?"

What? You brought to this damn party and now you're leaving me standing here like an idiot while you're dancing with that psycho bitch? I know that he does not want to dance with Isabel but is he really that desperate? The fuck I came here for?

"Didn't you arrive with Miss Smoak, Mr. Queen?" she said with a cunning smile, "It would be a bad example if you left your date standing here like a lifeless statue." Lifeless statue my ass, bitch.

"Well, I have hopes that Mr. Wilson will take care of that for me, won't you Mr. Wilson?" Oliver asked with another fake smile. Slade simply stared at him with a frown.

He's kidding me right? He's not kidding. He wants me to dance with him? No, no and _no_. That is never gonna happen. I am not going to dance with Slade. No.

I noticed the look on Isabel's face. Her expression fierce, her eyes widening in disbelief and her cheeks going red with fury and jealousy. Believe me, I'm not happy about this either. I don't want to dance with him. She can keep him. She can handcuff him to the bed for all I care. Yeah, I shouldn't have thought of that. That sounded so perverted if you think about it.

Slade's frown soon turns into a small smile.

"Of course," he said, "Why not? Who says that we cannot dance with different women?"

"It's settled then," Oliver said before turning his attention to Isabel and offered his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

"Sure," she gritted her teeth and they both went to dance, leaving me alone with Slade. Fuck me. This can't be happening.

"Miss Smoak," he said and I look at him straight in the eye. He was offering his own hand for me to take. I don't want to dance with him after all he has done but I don't want to let Oliver down either. "If you would be so kind."

I took a deep breath before putting a shaky hand into his and he led me to dance. We were too close to each other and I felt like crying at that moment. His hand held mine while the other one slowly slinked at my waist, his thumb digging in tightly and almost painfully. I was forced to place my other hand on his shoulder. I was shaking in fear. He had a lot of muscle beneath his suit. Ok, no. Stop thinking about that, Felicity. This is your enemy. Stop thinking about it. Think of Oliver's muscles. Ok, that sounded wrong too.

"I hope this gives me the opportunity to apologize for my unruly behaviour upon," he said, "It was inhumane of me."

I don't know if he actually means it or if he's being sarcastic. Either way, the answer is no. I'm not forgiving this psycho for almost killing me and my aunt, and for forcing me to kill an impostor posing as him during the entire kidnapping instead of doing it himself. That is something I can never forgive. My hands are still shaking for what I did. The fear. The adrenaline.

"Apology is not accepted to you misfortune," I said, "But thank you for trying though. Not all villains get to apologize after nearly killing me and Donna which does not happen very often, by the way." And yes, that was sarcasm.

"Your fear for me has become noticed. You're trembling," he said lowly so the others around us wouldn't hear us. I said nothing to this. "You look lovely tonight though."

"I am the only one who has decided to wear white," I sighed, "I feel out of place."

He chuckled, "And yet you're the one drawing attention. Most people are staring at us right now." He right. I look around and there are eyes on us. I don't like being stared at nor do I like the centre of attention. "Dressed in white like the feathers of a swan stand out among all the other women dressed tonight in colours with the addition that you are not wearing gloves. Hands urge to touch but what, I wonder. A pure clean canvas. But what attracts their attention most is the CEO of Queens Consolidated dancing here with the EA/IT girl who was once worked for Oliver Queen." The only reason why I didn't wear gloves is because they make me look like Mickey Mouse, not because I want to touch someone.

"And I still work for Oliver Queen," I corrected.

"But not at Queens Consolidated," he pointed out.

"Even if I don't work for Oliver Queen, I still work for the Arrow."

"That will not last long either, I believe."

"Why won't you stop badgering me?" I asked him, "It hasn't been more than five minutes and you're starting to harass me already? Is this some kind of game to you?"

"Perhaps," he smirks at me, "I do enjoy playing with my food before eating it."

Okay, now that just sounded gross.

"You are a _jackass_ ," I hissed.

"I've been called many things, Miss Smoak," he said, "Idiot. Bastard. Shitface."

"I'd would think those are your actually nicknames if not insults," I said.

"I grew accustomed to them. I am no longer phased by insults or threats," he said. Yeah right.

"And yet you became offended when I mentioned ―."

"Miss Smoak, I am in a very good mood tonight for I have sealed the deal with the investors of Queens Consolidated and I appreciate if you don't provoke me. If you value that pretty neck of yours, I suggest you mind your own tongue," he threatened.

"You already know what I can do, Slade, and I'm not afraid to use it in front of everyone if I have to, exposing you and me for what we really are," I said with venom.

"Only you won't, Miss Smoak," he released my waist to twirl me around before holding it again, "Do you know why?" I frown at him. "There many people here in this room. You and Oliver may know that I am a threat to everyone but not everyone knows that. Even if you use your abilities against me, I can always play the victim. So, go on and scream. I insist."

I glare at him but remained silent. He was right. If I scream now, the only one who would end up winning is him, and I would be the bad guy here. It's not even fair. He's playing dirty with me, and not in a good way.

"I thought so," he said, "You have made a wise choice. You're one of the smart blondes, unlike the whore Sara Lance."

"Sara is not a whore," I hiss at him, "And not all blondes are dumb. There are very smart blondes around the world if you look them up. Besides, I dyed my hair blonde."

"I can tell," he almost in a whisper, "I can see the dark streaks through the lightness of your hair. Also, I took the liberty to see some of your childhood pictures. Black hair, I suppose."

My eyes widened at his words. He has seen my pictures. My old pictures when I was younger. How did he even get my photos? I never put them on the Internet. Yeah, that's right. I don't have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or a Google account. Deal with it. He's stalking me. He's crazy. He's freaking crazy.

"You're a psychopath," my voice trembled as I said that, "You keep trying to use me against Oliver. You kidnapped me and my mother. And now you're invading my private life. You're a stalker."

"I only do what needs to be done, and it is necessary. You are simply a pawn in the game like everyone else around Oliver. Nothing more." he said. No, it's not. He's stalking me which makes him a predator, just like my father. And all those thoughts made me let go of his hand. "I meant no offense."

"Stop saying that when you and I both know that you actually meant to offend me," I said, my lips were quivering. He frowned.

"I did not know you were quick to offend," he said.

"…You're just like him," I said.

"Like who, if I may ask, Miss Smoak?"

"My father."

He stares at me seriously. "You're just like him in so many ways that I am somehow thinking this is one of the nightmares where he tries to torture me," I hiss at him, "You're selfish, just like him. You don't think of anyone else but yourself, just like him. And for that selfishness, people around you suffer the consequences ―."

"Miss Smoak ―."

"I need a drink," I said before slipping away from him and squeezing and pardoning myself through the crowd. I need a glass of wine. But before I could make it to the table where all the meals were, Oliver grabs me by the arm.

"We need to put the cameras now," he whispered in my ear. "Isabel just took Slade away. I think they're going to talk in private. It will give us plenty of time to place the cameras."

"I don't know if this is a good idea, Oliver," I complain, "Slade just won't stop. He's a big bully, that's all he is."

"Felicity, I know. But can we just focus on the task for a moment. We only have 5 minutes to plant the cameras. In those five minutes, Slade and Isabel will be back. In thirty minutes after we plant the cameras, we're leaving, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Bossy Pants," I said.

He puts six mini cameras in the palm of my hands which he took out from the pocket of his suit. They were the size of raisins. Oliver says that he would take the downstairs area. I would take the upstairs area. Good…because I have to pee very badly. Ever since I got out hospital, I keep ending up wanting to go to the bathroom and pee. Looks like the shock William Tockman gave me affected my bladder too. I really have to go pee.

I climb up the stairs to the second floor. The Merlyn Mansion seems very nicely decorated. It didn't really change since Tommy and Malcolm Merlyn died during the earthquake in Starling City. I still feel bad for what happened to the people that died that day. I also suffered, afraid of being crushed by the remains of the roof that kept falling down as the earth shook violently. It was mostly Moira's fault for not speaking out sooner, even if it was Malcolm's plan to destroy Starling City.

Anyways, I walk down the hallway and skimmed a hand over the paisley red wallpaper as I planted one of the mini cameras under a painting frame. Oliver did not say where Slade or Isabel are, so, I tried to pick up the pace in putting the camera. As if by lucky, I found Slade study and place a hidden camera under his desk. I look around and outside the hallway, making sure no one was coming before continuing the mission. Okay, nope, that's it, I need to go pee…right now. I already know how the Merlyn Mansion was built after looking for the schematics to the house on computer, so, I know where the guest bathroom is. I go inside the guest room and lock the door behind me. I lift up the lid of the toilet seat, lift up the skirt of my dress and pull down my shorts and panties before sitting down to pee.

I took off my mask and ran a hand over my face, sighing in frustration. That was a disaster, as always. I am never dancing with Slade again. That was too much for me. He wouldn't stop bugging me no matter how much I try. I tried to play it cool but I couldn't. I just can't. I know I promised Oliver but…I don't know. I don't if it's Slade or it's father. I just feel like I'm losing my mind. I used to be focused. I used to be helpful. Right now, I'm just being a whiny little bitch. This is not me. This is another person taking over my body. This is not Felicity Smoak, the bitch with Wi-fi, now I'm just a bitch playing victim.

After I finished and cleaned up, I slipped on my mask and continued with the mission. I put a mini camera in the master bathroom though I don't think Oliver would ever want to see Slade pissing or pooping, or whatever he does in the bathroom. Pun not intended. Gross. Why do you make me do this? Three cameras down, three more to go. Just three more cameras Felicity and you can get out of here. Just try to continue calmly.

I placed another camera behind the nightstand of one of the guest room. There are more than five guest rooms in the Merlyn Mansion and most them look exactly the same. Dark brown walls, white carpeted floors and blue beds with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. This place needs redecorating. If Slade is going to be living in this mansion, he better start thinking of redesigning the place with lighter colours. He should probably watch _Fixer Upper_ on TV to get some ideas that is if he actually watches TV. He's so hell-bent on revenge that I'm beginning to doubt he even has a TV nor does he ever go to a movie theatre.

I plant another mini camera under another painting in another hallway. There at least three hallways in the mansion. One more camera and I'm done. In five minutes Oliver is going to want me back downstairs. Two minutes left. I need to hurry before Oliver begins to worry or before Slade finds me up here. He'll probably ask before killing me. I rather if he doesn't ask. If he's going to kill me, he can. Last place to put the camera. The master bedroom. The last place I would want to go. That's where he and Isabel…you know. And I don't want to be in there just to hide a camera there. I don't want to see them fuck and I don't think Oliver wants to either. But a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

I look around the hallway before slowly opening the door to the master bedroom, only to find myself a little surprise.

Slade was in his master bedroom, as I suspected. But so was Isabel. I stared in horror. Isabel was on her hands and knees on the bed with the skirt of her red dress up to her hips and her underwear down, and Slade has his pants pulled down with his ass exposed. They both were letting out moans and they have not noticed I have entered the room. He was…They were both…

"Oh my God," I said unfortunately out loud.

They both stopped and looked up at me. Isabel gasped as she folds down her skirt and Slade instantly hurriedly puts his pants back on. I think I just saw his dick. Oh my God. I think I'm going to be sick right now. "I think I just proven my point," I place my hand over my mouth to avoid vomiting as I slammed the door close.

"Miss Smoak," I heard Slade call back to me but I just continued running down the hallway where I came from, tossing the last camera aside. Fuck this shit I'm out. "Miss Smoak!"

I ran downstairs as fast as I could. Oliver was at the end of the staircase. He looked worried when he saw me running. He grabbed me by the shoulders and stopped me in my tracks. If he had not stopped me, I wouldn't have noticed I was shaking violently from the disgust I was feeling right now for what I just saw.

"Felicity, are you okay?" he asked me with concern as I tried to push him off. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry, Oliver, I couldn't put the last camera," I apologized.

"Why? What happened? Did Slade catch you? Did he hurt you?" he kept asking but I don't want to talk about it. I can't talk to him about this. I need to get out of here.

"No. I just need to get out of here. I'm feeling sick right now and I think I'm going to throw up all over you in front of everyone if I don't get out here right now," I said before slipping away from his grasp. He called out for me to come back just as Slade had done upstairs when I caught him with Isabel.

Once I got out of the Merlyn Mansion, I leaned over a shrub and throw up behind it while holding back my hair. Well, there goes my lunch at Big Belly's Burger. Lucky I didn't threw up on Oliver or in Slade's room. That would have been both traumatizing and humiliating for me. After throwing up, I used one of the clean leaves to clean up my mouth from the vomit. I need to go home. I need to get out of here.

I look up at one of the windows, feeling like someone was watching. Slade was standing behind one of the windows, looking down at me. I continued to stare back, my eyes welling up with tears of horror and disgust. I noticed him taking out his walkie-talkie. Who is he talking to? That's when I realize he has guards outside the mansion keeping an eye on the courtyard, and bolted, running through the gates before the guards could stop me.

Once I was far enough from the Merlyn Mansion and near public view, I removed my mask as a taxicab drove nearby and yelled for it to stop which it did. I got it and gave him the direction to my apartment. I didn't have the money on me but promised that I would pay him once I get home. When the cab took me home, I went to my apartment and returned to the cab to pay driver, also giving him a 10 dollar tip as a reward for giving me a ride home.

After all that, I went back to my apartment and locked the door tightly. I checked the rooms and made sure the windows were closed just in case. I don't want more surprises tonight. I undressed myself from my mother's dress and tossed in the closet like crumpled up paper before changing into my pajamas and quickly called Sara to bring back Rachel for me. I don't think I can leave this house tonight, not after what happened.

* * *

 **There. The chapter is done. It took me longer than it should. Sorry if I kept you guys waiting with this. The chapter is a little bit long but it was worth writing. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think of this chapter and I will make sure to leave another chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14: Felicity Scissorhands

Chapter 14: Felicity Scissorhands

Felicity's POV

"Rachel is in bed right now," I said as I sat down on the sofa next to Sara. She arrived as soon as possible, I think less than 5 minutes. I'm still wondering if she used a taxi or a bus to get here since she doesn't have a car. If she used her motorcycle to bring her here, I'd be pretty pissed off right now though I don't feel like getting angry right now. "She asked if everything is all right. I said _yes_. I don't know if she fell for my lies or not. I hate lying to her. She's worried." I sat cross-legged. I was looking down at the floor.

"I'm the one who's worried," she said, "…You look terrible. You look drained. What happened?"

"I just didn't feel well and decided to leave the party," I lied. I feel embarrassed wanting to tell her about what happened at the party. I know I look terrible. I've already looked at myself in the mirror. Pale, colour drained. And not even a glass of wine made me feel better.

"Oliver called and so did Diggle," she told me, "They're worried about you. They wanted to know where you went." I know. I have ten missed calls from Oliver and 5 unanswered texts from Diggle. I didn't answer either of them. I also received a missed call from Slade. I delete it. I even deleted his phone number. I was obligated to have his number because he's my boss. I think I'm having second thoughts about my job at Queens Consolidated. "When you told me you were here, I called them and told them you were home." I'm glad Sara did all this for me. She didn't have to. "Are you sure you okay?"

"I don't know," I sighed, "I think I'm losing my mind. I've been saying it so many times, I think I'm believing it myself."

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asks with concern.

"God. Where to begin?...Oliver made me dance with Slade," I began saying. I look at her with a small weak smile. She simply rolls her eyes and smacks herself on the forehead.

"Oliver is an idiot making you do that after everything you went through," she growled.

"Yeah, I know. So, Oliver made me dance with Slade while he was dancing with Isabel," I continued saying, "Things weren't going as well as I thought while we were dancing. He wouldn't stop harassing me. So, I just let go and went to get a drink when Oliver told me that it was time to plant the mini cameras in the Merlyn Mansion where Slade wouldn't find them. He took the downstairs. I took the upstairs. It also gave me the opportunity to go to the bathroom. I had to pee very badly."

"You should go see a doctor for that, you know? You're not looking so good. Also, I think you should rest."

Yeah, not gonna happen, especially not after what happened. I need to watch TV or solve a few Arrow stuff or at least do stuff to get my mind off of Slade having sex with Isabel. Yeah, that won't be going away soon enough. I think that image will stay in my head for the rest of my life.

"Jee thanks," I grumbled.

"But what happened after that?"

"I was going to put the last camera in Slade's bedroom when I saw him," I said.

"You got caught," she said.

"Not exactly. I caught him…with Isabel. They were…you know."

Her eyes widened at my words, or more like the lack of them. But she clearly got the message. "Oh my God, that's sick. Give me the bottle." She looked like she was about to throw up too. I immediately gave her the half-full bottle wine and she began to chug it down, probably to keep from throwing up like I did earlier outside the Merlyn Mansion.

"I think we're going to need a second bottle," I said when Sara finished drinking the entire bottle. I went over to the kitchen where the wine cabinet was. I took out one of the red wines. There was also a bottle of Canadian rum but I didn't want to get too drunk.

"I know that Slade had low self-esteem but didn't expect him to hit rock bottom," she said after putting down the empty bottle on the coffee table.

"Please don't say that," I begged, "The way you say it makes it even worse." I poured in two more glasses of wine for us both. I think Sara's going to be the one drunk here, not me. If she drank the first bottle, I don't think drinking the second bottle is a good idea.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't know it freak you out. What happened then?"

"I ran off and took a cab back home," I said, "I couldn't even tell Oliver what happened. I felt embarrassed. Oh, not to mention I threw up behind a shrub."

"I don't blame you. I would have done the same. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't really know, Sara. I can't even look at him in the face now," I sighed.

"I'd hate to say it, Felicity, but if I didn't know you, I'd say you're jealous."

Jealous? Really? Is that the word you were looking for? Does she have any idea the fucked up shit I have seen tonight? No. She doesn't. And I don't think I will be able to unsee that.

"I'm not jealous," I said, "I just felt a bit uncomfortable seeing the two of them like that."

"Uh-huh," she says. She doesn't believe me, "Sweetheart, your face looks like the face a woman who just found out her husband's been cheating on her."

"But I'm not jealous."

"Then, what is it?" she asked.

"…I don't know."

"Can I ask you a question?" she already anyways. I'm not stopping her.

"Fire away. I'm not stopping you," I said to her.

"…Did you like dancing with Slade?"

I pursed my lips but I did not answer her question. I simply took a sip of my wine and didn't answer. She gave me a 'Mhhmm. You like the supervillain' look with an arched eyebrow before she took a sip of her own wine.

I honestly don't really know how to answer that. Part of me hated dancing with Slade for the things he have done. Most of my body was stiff with fear while dancing with him. But there was another part of me that was actually enjoying it before he goes off ruining it with his taunts. Things that I have noticed but did not want to say. The way he held my hand and waist. It was more of a gentle grasp than it was painful. It seemed like _he_ was the one enjoying the dance with me. I think he was enjoying it more than I was, having me in his arms. Well, not in his arms, more like his hands. Um, he hands on me. I mean…God. It's a good thing I'm not talking out loud about this.

It was a lie though. It's not that I was jealous of Slade having sex with Isabel. It was something else, something I'm not really ready to share with Sara just yet. For some reason, seeing those two in the bedroom, somehow made me think of Cooper, of how we spent our own time together. When Cooper was alive, we shared our own moments of intimacy, sometimes in my dorm and sometimes in his dorm. He would hang some cowboy hat on the doorknob, some idiocity he invented to tell people we were having sex and not to bother use. Why not just put a giant flashing Broadway sign that says _Cooper Seldon is fucking Felicity Smoak_ while he's at it? He was actually my first. Some people see me as if I was a virgin but in reality, I'm not. I have had sex before. I had plenty of sex. I just hadn't had been into dating lately because of work and because of the Arrow. Besides, I somehow seem to scare men away with my awkwardness and my constant babble. And to be honest, I don't think I want to date right now. I have too much going on in my head right. I just don't have the time to date right now. And I don't think I ever want to date again after everything that has happened tonight. It was like something cracked inside of me.

* * *

Slade's POV

The more I stare at her desk, the more I think of her. The look on her face she saw us both in the bedroom. The look of horror on her face. The way she ran away. I tried to call her back but she left. I wanted the guards to bring her to me but she had already disappeared through the gates. She fled from me. She was now petrified of me. Now I can't seem to shake it off. I had not returned to the party afterwards. I let Isabel take care of it. She too felt uncomfortable afterwards. I felt dirty though. The way she stared at me in disgust. She will never come back to the Queens Consolidated. I'm sure of it. Of course, she would. But I doubt she would ever want to look at me in the face ever again. Adeline would be so disappointed at me for this. Shado? I am not sure what she would think of me since she has seen me do these things with Isabel?

 **(Jeez what do you think Slade? She just saw you fucking Isabel! You idiot)**

To my surprise, she did come back to Queens Consolidated. But she was not wearing her usual work clothes and was carrying an empty cardboard box beneath her arm. She was wearing a black sweater and beige pants. Her hair seems a bit of a mess and she looked pale and washed out. If she took off her glasses, you could see the dark shadows and bags under her eyes. She looked tired. She didn't seem to have much sleep last night. I don't blame. Why did she bring an empty box with her?

She placed it on her desk. Next thing I know, she was beginning to put her belongings in the box: her pens, pencils, her Q-Pad, her stapler, a pair of scissors, a small potted plant, and a few papers. She had also put some properties of Queens Consolidated in that box. What is she doing?

I immediately got up from behind my desk and stepped out of the office, walking up to her.

"May I ask what is it that you are doing?" I asked. She stopped when she heard me but she soon continued putting away her belongings in the box. She didn't even bother looking at me.

"I quit," she said bluntly. My eye widened at her response.

"You…can't quit," I said.

"Yes, I can. I've already signed my resignation," she said, "I'm not quitting my old job at the IT Department but I am quitting my new job as your executive assistant, the same thing I said to Oliver when he made me _his_ executive assistant though my business with him was less….How do I put this nicely? Less _disturbing_."

"…We need to talk about what happened at the party last night," I leaned over to whisper to her. This is something between me and her. No one else needs to hear about our argument.

"What _did_ happen last night?" she asks rhetorically. Is she trying to pretend that nothing she saw happened? Most women would go nuts. "I ran into Isabel on the way here. For the first time, she actually looked nervous. She asked if I saw anything last night. I said nothing. Then she asked if I was quitting and I said yes. I think I'm going to make it clear to you that nothing happened last night. I did not see anything. And I think I do not want to talk about it because I do not want to relive it."

"Miss Smoak ―."

"I think what happened last night at the party is beyond talking. I don't think that what happened last night, I might not be able to unsee it. I don't think I can even talk about it to my therapist."

"You will not tell, will you?" I asked. I am concerned of what she would do now that she knows about my relationship with Isabel, if you can call it a relationship.

"Wow. What do you think?" she said, finally facing me. "I don't think it's any of my business since I no longer work here. So, you can do whatever you want with her. I don't care. But I will no longer tolerate being tossed around like a ragdoll."

"I did not mean for you to witness that," I tried apologizing. I even tried putting a hand on her shoulder but she immediately recoiled from me.

"No. Don't touch me," she said in abhor, "My head hurts…a lot. And I am not in the mood of talking with a guy whom I just recently saw him fucking his own co-CEO in the master bedroom. But I should be the one apologizing for barging into your bedroom without knocking although if you didn't want anyone walking in on you, you should really keep the door locked."

She finished packing up her things. Some of the items on her desk do not belong to her.

"You should realize that some belong to the company," I reminded her.

"Well, some of these also belong to the IT Department which still belongs to me. I will divide what belongs to me, what belongs to QC and what belongs to the IT Department. I will have what belongs to QC delivered by mail."

She wasn't stupid. She was a smart girl. But one question popped in my head?

"What I'd like to know is what you were doing upstairs in the second floor instead of downstairs with the others," I addressed her sternly. Her face immediately went blank when I said that. I have her right where I want her.

"I had to go pee," she said.

Bullshit. She went upstairs as a spy, to find out what I had planned. Is it not a coincidence that both Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak arrived at the party willingly without complaint? Oliver had done this. My main question, what did she do up there? I'm guessing she's looking through my study or did the same thing I did in Oliver's home, placing small cameras to spy on him. I bet she did the same. Where did she place them though?

"I have to go," she said, "I need to lie down. My head's killing me right now."

I am a bit concerned about her headaches. She had been constantly complaining about it for days. What could it be? Migraines? When was the last time she went back to the doctors to have herself checked out? I for one believe she needs to go back to the doctor and have herself checked.

"Do not leave, Miss Smoak ―."

"Goodbye, Mr. Wilson," she said. With that, she was gone. She walked away. I watch her enter the elevator. I knew she would never come back to this place afterwards. The property of Queens Consolidate would be delivered by mail. She'd still be working for the IT Department but I would no longer see her here. How difficult it is to apologize when your pride and ego does not allow you. Those are the main things that messed up my relationship with Adeline and the reason why I never told Shado how I felt. It also scared away Felicity Smoak.

But something made me smile. She left her car keys on the desk again.

* * *

Felicity's POV

One of my biggest mistakes was to come back here to Queens Consolidated, knowing that Slade would be there. But I have already gave in my resignation. I quit Queens Consolidated. I simply came here to pack up my stuff. I left Sara with Rachel for a few hours. I shouldn't be allowed letting anyone else taking care of Rachel but I also needed things sorted out. I'll make it up to her when I get home. When Slade came up to me, I stiffened. I made it very clear to him that I wasn't going to tell anyone about his relationship with Isabel and I also told him I am never coming back to Queens Consolidated. I'll probably have to move to keep him from finding me. I don't want him standing at my doorstep in the afternoon. I really don't want to look at him in the face. My last conversation with Isabel was sort of awkwardly exchanged. She looked a bit embarrassed for what I had seen. But I already told her that nothing would come out of my mouth but she seems happy to know I'm leaving the company. Slade, on the other hand, did not seem very happy I was leaving. He didn't want me to go. Sorry, Slade, I don't do psychos nor do I do psychos that fuck their own co-CEO.

I have to go home and rest. My head won't stop hurting. I think I need to go to the doctors to get checked just as Sara told. I got a missed call from Cisco yesterday but didn't bother calling him back till right now as I was heading for the elevator.

" _Hello?_ " I heard Cisco's voice through the phone.

"Hey, Cisco. It's me. Talk," I said hastily.

 _"_ _Hey, Felicity, what's up? Hey, I met your new boss. He seems,_ _ **friendly**_ ," he said. That last part was sarcasm, " _I looked for you in your office but you weren't there. Your boss told me you were taking the weekend off_."

"You mean you talked to Slade?"

" _Yeah, also I found he's the dude that tried to kill me and Caity_ ," he said.

"So you know?"

" _I'm guessing you knew too, huh?_ "

"Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you. I could have but I didn't want the Arrow getting pissed off at me. I promise I'll make it up to you," I said. Cisco and Caitlyn don't know anything about Oliver being the Arrow. I don't think they need to know yet. "Listen, you called. What is it that you wanted to tell me?"

" _Well, we found something that you needed to see? We found something in your x-rays while running test and I think you need to come here to Central City if you don't to_ ―"

The line was soon cut off as soon as I stepped out of the elevator to the parking lot. "Hello? Cisco? Cisco." Damn it. Stupid reception here. There's no signal here in the parking lot. Oliver, you may have a nice company here but you have a very shitty phone reception. I'll call him back as soon as I go back to the car and get out of here. I put the phone back in my pants' left pocket (since my purse was also in the box along with my belongings) and headed for my car.

Once I got to my car, I put the box down on the hood of my car and search for my keys in my purse. Wait a second, where are my keys? I thought I had them with me. "Shit," I mutter. I left them on my desk again. What is wrong with me?

I feel a poke on my back. It's Slade again. I know he's there. He probably came here to bring back my keys back and brag about how I keep forgetting my things. I know. My mind is not in the right place right now.

"I know. I left my keys on my desk again, Slade," I said as I turned, "but that doesn't mean that we…" I froze and my eyes bulged in shock as I realized it was not Slade standing in front of me.

"You left your keys? That's funny. I always thought of you as careful, Felly." Dad.

"Colton?" I whisper, "What are you doing?" I stepped aside to keep a good distance away from him, knowing he was _way_ too close to me.

"That hurts. The least you can do is call me Dad."

"You're _not_ my _dad_ ," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," he said with smile, "I went through your office a few days ago to bring you lunch. You weren't there."

"Yeah," I said, "My boss told me…My ex-boss, to be exact."

"You quit your job?" he asked, almost in surprise. I should not have said. I should not have said that. Me and my big mouth.

"Yes," I said, "And that's why I'm leaving. So, if you excuse me, I'd like to enter my car."

"Now, Felicity, let's talk this through for a moment before you get in your car," he said. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening his eyes to look at me again, "On second thought, why don't you come here? We'll get in the car together and we can talk there."

"I don't think that's good idea," I told him. I don't want to get in the car with him. I know his intentions. I crossed my arms over my chest. My stared lingered at the box on the hood of my car. The scissors and the stapler were in there. If only I could reach for them to defend myself. Hit him with the scream, Felicity. Hit him with the scream. The problem is that I don't think I can. I feel a nervous lump on my throat that won't allow me to let out my scream. All I can do is stall and hope I can reach the box fast enough to get the scissors.

"Felicity, please, come here and hear me out. I really want to fix things between us both."

"…No."

"Felicity…Come here," his voice sounded more demanding and impatient as he said that.

"No," I said more sternly. I am not walking up to him so he can hurt me just as he did to my mother and to the rest of the girls.

"Felicity Megan Smoak, I am your father and I am telling you to come here right now," he growls at me angrily.

"I said no!" I snap at him.

He suddenly lunges and grabs me by the neck in constricting squeeze. I cough and try to pry his hands away.

"You're just as stubborn as your bitch mother," he hisses at me with gritted teeth. He slams me against my car and my glasses fall off. My back slammed so hard that the car shook and the box with my belongings fell scattered on the concrete floor. He continued slamming me against the side of the car. I even heard the cracking sound of my window break as the back of my head bashed against it. I think he wanted to get me unconscious but I would not heed. There were small black spots covering my vision but I fought against it.

Getting angrily that I would not allow myself to lose consciousness, he threw me down to the floor where he straddles on top of me and grabs me by the neck again. He squeezed tightly again.

"You were always my favourite, Felicity," he hissed. I looked at the corner of my eye to see the pair of orange scissors next to me at an easy reach. "Don't make me waste my energy killing you when I should be using it for other uses."

I quickly grab the scissors in my hand and swing it at him, slashing him in the face with the sharp end of the blade. He yelled out in pain and finally released me. I gasp in a lung full of air and shrieked, sending him flying back till he hit his back against the concrete pillar between my car and another car. I'm surprised I didn't cause the windows to explode. I stood up from the floor with the bloodied scissors held tightly in my shaky hands. _Kill him_. I can't. I won't

He groans in pain as he stood up in a slouch and looks at me furiously. His expression was like of Shrek, his gritted and his brow furrowed. The slash on his face began from the right bottom jaw, across his face over the bridge of his nose, to the top of his left temple and blood dripping from his wound. He kind of reminds me of Tyrion Lannister from HBO's _Game of Thrones_ and George R.R. Martin's book after he got wounded in the face during the battle. I stared at him frightfully but remained frozen where I was.

"You stupid bitch!" he yelled at me, "You filthy slut! I'll teach you to fuck with me!"

He charges at me again but I squealed in surprise when he suddenly got punched in the face and got knocked to the floor and hit his head against my car by Slade who simply came out of nowhere. He moans in pain but he remained on the floor.

"You won't touch her again," Slade pants threateningly.

He looks at me and walks up to my side. He holds my hands and asks me to let go of the scissors. I look at the blade. Blood was dripping from the pointed end. I just held the scissors tighter. "Felicity, give me the scissors, please," he asked again calmly. I let out a shuddered breath. I hesitated for a moment before I felt my fingers shakily peeling away from the handle and Slade gently yanks the scissors from my grasp. My hands were still covered in blood. I have never done that before. And I am shocked I even did it. I cut my father. I hurt him. There's blood on my hands to prove it. I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe I did that.

Four security guards arrived at the parking lot as fast as they could. I almost forgot there were security cameras here. They must have seen the attack. They also must have seen me use my abilities. Oh no.

"Call the SCPD and have this man arrested for assault!" Slade said to the guards.

"Yes, Mr. Wilson," one of them said.

I stared as two of the guards dragged my struggling father away from the parking lot in handcuffs. "You can't let them do this to me, Felicity! I'm your father! You should have done what I said! You're going to make you suffer for this!" he yelled as he was forced into the elevator and the doors slid close.

"Are you all right?" Slade asked as he held my face in both of his hands, forcing me to look at him and look away from the elevator. I was still shaking from the fear and adrenaline. I simply nodded, not really trusting my words. Besides, my throat hurts from the attempt of being strangled.

They'll hand him over to the police soon. I'm glad that's over.

The SCPD came in as soon as possible as well as an ambulance. Oliver and Diggle arrived as soon as they heard what happened. I was in the ambulance being attended by the paramedics. Purple and red blotches already began to mark my throat. One of them said that I was fine so far. She kept pressing her latex gloved fingers against my neck and I hiss. "I know it hurts, sweetie. I'm just following protocol." Nothing had been damaged but they suggested I should rest for a while. I had my hands cleaned up from my father's blood. Good. I didn't want to look at the blood for another second. My father's blood wet against my skin. It was disgusting.

"Felicity, what happened?" Oliver asked in concern when he saw the state I am now. I wanted to tell him what happened but the paramedic that was attending to me forbade me to talk. She was an African-American woman with full lips and a black ponytail. She told me her name was Karen Beecher.

"She needs rest," she said, "There's no damage to her vocal chords but she can't speak for another twelve hours till we make sure of it."

Oliver nods in agreement but I can tell he was frustrated. "I'll go talk to Detective Lance then." I knew he would.

"You can step out if you want to, honey," she said.

I nodded before I climbed out of the ambulance. Diggle embrace me tightly. I whimpered in pain and he immediately lets go. My back still hurts. I think I might have backaches for a week no thanks to Colton. I hope he goes to jail for good this time.

"You okay?" he asks. I nod even though I don't really feel okay. "I was worried. Everything will be all right." I smile at him. I don't really know what will happen. I sigh. Wow. I'm feeling fuzzy right now. A bit dizzy.

Detective Lance came over to me with Oliver following behind him. He seems a bit concerned as well about what happened to me. He had something in his hands. My glasses. The ones that had fallen off my face when Colton was slamming me against the car. I noticed the police putting number tags on my car and some of my belongings that have fallen on the floor during the struggle. My belongings are part of a crime scene now. Looks like I won't be driving my car for a while. That's a bummer. I'll probably take a taxi or a bus for now on till they return my car. I sigh.

"I think this is yours," Detective Lance said as he returned my glasses. I don't think I need them right. My head's been throbbing. "The paramedics said you are not allowed to talk for twelve hours so I'm giving you simple questions and you'll nod your head for _yes_ or _no_. Can you do that, Miss Smoak?"

I nod.

"Do you know the man that attacked you? And before you say _no_ , we spoke to him first. He already told us that he knows you," he said.

Damn it. I thought I might lie but it seems that I can't. I nod. Yes, I know him. He's a sick sadistic bastard.

"Is his name Colton Smoak?" he asked again and I nod, "Is he your father?" Closing my eyes in deception, I nod.

Oliver and Diggle looked at me in shock. I should have told them about Colton earlier as well as I did about my powers. But I was too afraid to tell them.

"Felicity, why didn't you tell us?" Oliver asked. I whimpered, letting my tears fall.

"Hey, take it easy, okay? She's in shock," Detective Lance said to Oliver. Diggle said the same thing. He embraced me again. Detective Lance continued with his interrogation. "Has he ever approached you before?"

I nodded.

"Has he ever tried to attack you before today?"

I shook my head. No. He didn't try to attack me when we saw each other at Big Belly Burger. I'm guessing he didn't want to bring attention to himself by attacking me in public. I was surprised I was the only one in the parking lot.

"Now, I want you to listen carefully," he said, "The Starling City Police Department ran a full scan on your father's profile. He was arrested many times for violence, murder, theft and sexual assault against minors. Were you one of those victims?"

I shook my head. I wasn't lying this time. My father didn't sexually assault me when I was still small. He still tried. Among all the blonde girls he wanted to have, I was considered his _favourite_. My father has a fetish for blondes. That's why he married my mother and that's why he was obsessed with me even though back then I had black hair. Despite having black hair, my father wanted me. He said I was his special little girl. It made me want to throw up again just thinking about it.

"You and your mother had filed up a restraining order against your father many years ago when you were three before she died when you were four. Is that correct?" I nodded.

My mother had filed up a restraining order against my father for domestic abuse and for attempt of sexual assault against me. I remember lying on my bed at night, watching the door crack open and my father sneaking in. He would sit on the edge of my bed, caressing my small face. He would sneak his hand under the covers and slide it up my nightgown where I would feel him touching my legs and stomach. I tried very hard not to cry, afraid that he might hit me if I did. He kept saying that when I become a big girl, I would be his to have and no one else. He would say that he loves me and kiss me on the head before leaving my bedroom. I would be left clutching a my Raggedy Ann doll and cry.

I cried right now at those dreadful memories and Diggle held me tighter. Detective Lance nodded, feeling that he has enough information from me for now. As soon as I feel better, he'll hit me with every question he has. I just hope he keeps Colton locked up tight in a cage like an animal he is. I want to go home.

"One more thing. Were you the one who cut his face with a pair of scissors?" he asked. I nodded. "And did you punch him in the face?"

I shook my head. "S-Slade," I croaked. Oliver's eyes nearly bulged out as well as Diggle. Maybe I shouldn't have said that in front of them.

"Where is Slade?" Oliver demanded harshly, making me jump in fear. Diggle gave him the _back off_ look which he did.

"Mr. Wilson is being interrogated as well. He's giving us details about what happened," Detective Lance said, "Something about you quitting your job here and wanting to return the car keys you left on the desk."

Oliver gave me another surprised look. Uh-oh. Not good. I didn't tell them I was quitting Queens Consolidated. I was going to tell them this afternoon at the Clocktower. I guess I had to tell them sooner. Thank you, Quentin, for nothing. I hate you right now.

Detective Lance seemed surprised as well but made no comment. "Okay then," he said before going back to work.

"We need to talk about this right now," Oliver kept insisting me. I'm feeling fuzzy right now.

"Oliver, I don't think it's the right time for arguing," Diggle defended me but sounded a bit echoing. Why is everything blurry right now?

"I think it's the perfect time to talk about this. I want to know what the hell is going on and what happened last night at the party, Felicity? Hey, Felicity, are you listening to me?"

You guys are spinning and getting fogging. And the room is getting dark. I think I'm going to faint. And I did.

"Hey, Felicity!"

"Someone help here! We need help here!"

* * *

 **Well, there you go, the next chapter to Black Smoak. I got nothing to say right now except for, I hope you enjoyed it and express your opinion on Felicity's first time using a weapon. Also, you may express how you feel about Slade's behaviour and give theories of what might happen next on Black Smoak.**


	15. Chapter 15: Hospital and Accusation

**Hey guys, so, this is the next chapter to Black Smoak. You might read this as normal but I am sincerely bummed out right now from the last episode of Arrows Season 4. It's not really confirmed if Felicity is the one in the grave since the grave was six months later while the Arrow team were only there for three months. Still, I'm a bit bummed out because I don't know what's going to happen in the next episode till January….but that does not mean I'm going to stop writing this fanfiction. So, thank you for your time and have a great holiday, if you can. God, my head hurts in frustration right now.**

Chapter 15:

Bella Thorne as Victim 1 (And no, I won't tell you who kills her)

* * *

Quentin Lance's POV

"So, what are we going to do with this son of a bitch?" I asked the chief of the SCPD as we were looking at the guy sitting in the interrogation room with handcuffs tying his wrists behind his back and his head leaned back in boredom. I really hate this bastard. And I barely even met him. I hate like these, trying to take advantage of young girls, especially defenceless ones. Well, I wouldn't call Felicity Smoak defenceless. I think she did just fine cutting his face with a pair of scissors. She's smart, just like my little girl Sara.

This guy. I have read his criminal records earlier. He's a dangerous man. And we got evidence to prove. We got security cameras recording the attack in the parking lot. That's enough evidence to send his ass to prison…or worse. He could get the electric chair. Still, as protocol, he needs to be interrogated which I find useless.

"Ask him a few questions," the chief said, "Then, we're arresting him for assault."

"For how long?" I asked.

"Depends on the attorney we negotiate with," he says.

"The hell with that," I scoffed, "I don't negotiate with psychopaths. You see what Felicity had to do to get him off her. And you saw what Slade did."

"Yeah, I know. The girl's tough."

"Some people don't think so until you really meet her," I tell him.

"How's she doing?" he asked. "I heard she passed out and had to be taken to a hospital."

"...The doctors found a glass shard jabbed on the back of her head," I explained, "The police checked the window from her car. It only got cracked. There was no missing glass there. God knows how a shard ended up there in the back of her head. But she's fine now. Doctors say she'll be waking up any time soon after surgery."

"Did they shave her head?" he asked.

Really? Of all the questions, he had to ask that?

"No," I said, "They didn't have to. They were able to remove easily. She got lucky it didn't severe a mayor artery. But I'm guessing she suffered a lot of pain in her head. She's been complaining about headaches over the past week. I guess we already found what was causing it."

"Now all I wanna know is where the glass came from?"

"Yeah, but first I wanna know what we're going to do with this bastard." I asked.

"We'll just have to find out how dangerous he is."

"Chief, we already know how dangerous he is," I said.

I entered the interrogation room with a few files in my hands. The bastard sits up straight and grins at me. The guy looks creepier now with the cut marking his face. He kind of reminds me Frankenstein's monster now or some horror movie psycho. I sit down on the opposite side of the table and put the files on the table where all his criminal records are crammed. Most of the photos of the victims are blonde girls no younger than Felicity Smoak. Some of the girls are just high school kids. This is a sick man we're dealing with.

"So," I said, "you must be Felicity's father. It's Colton, right? Colton Smoak? It's funny. I checked her job application, she never mentioned the name of her father nor did she ever mention she had a father."

The guy shrugs his shoulders. "She doesn't like to talk about it. Since she was a little girl, we always had a strained relationship."

"Does that strain relationship involves sexual harassments, assault and domestic abuse against her mother Evelyn Smoak," I said as I showed him one of the photographs of Evelyn Smoak. Her face was marked red and purple with bruises or cuts.

"I never touched my daughter," he said. I know.

"Because Evelyn wouldn't allow you," I said, "She filed up a restraining order against you, saying you were not allowed five miles close to where they lived or where they do business. You were not allowed to pick Felicity from school, and the security guards would call if they saw you near the school grounds."

"It's all a misunderstand," he kept saying, "If you'd just let me talk to my daughter ―."

"She doesn't want to see you anymore, remember?" I reminded him. But he doesn't really seem to care about whether he's violating the restraining order. "And you violated the restraining order Evelyn Smoak placed against you. You were not allowed to go anywhere near her or Felicity Smoak."

"Yeah…except that you people forgot one thing," he said gave me a smirk, "If you happen to have a copy of my dear Evelyn's restraining order, I suggest you look at the date."

I frowned at him skeptically before slipping out the copy of the restraining order. I read the date. It's expired. 10 years ago.

"Since Evelyn was dead, she could never go to court to have a new restraining order made," he said, "The restraining order lasted 10 years. Felicity was only 4 when her mother had the restraining order made. It became invalid when my little girl turned 14."

Son of a bitch. He knew the restraining order would be invalid now. It means that he could have attacked Felicity whenever he wanted. But why attack her now instead of attacking her back then?

"Why come back for her now after 20 years?" I asked.

"She has been through so much, Detective," he said, "I didn't want pop out of nowhere to tell her the restraining order was invalid. I was waiting for the right time to see her."

"You were waiting for her to think she was safe before you could approach," I claimed, "Is that what you like to do in your free time? Harassing your own daughter and assaulting innocent children?"

"Like I said, I simply want to make peace with my daughter," he said.

Like that's going to happen, you bastard. You will not be allowed near Felicity Smoak ever again. The thing is she needs to sign a new restraining order in order to get this jackass out of the city.

"Did you know Felicity was going to leave the building or were you waiting there all morning for her to arrive at the parking lot like a jackass?" I asked.

"Well, I always make friends," he said, shrugging his shoulders. So that means someone told him Felicity was going to be at the parking lot soon. There's a snitch in the building and I bet I know who it was. "A couple of days ago, I went over to her office with a dinner bag. She liked Big Belly Burgers, did you know that? Anyway, I found her boss, Mr. Wilson, and I asked him if he knew where I could find her. He said no. I asked if he could give me the address to her house. He said no. I gave him my name and phone number to call me if he saw her again. Of course, I was a bit angry he didn't tell me where my daughter was but I was glad already know where she works."

"So, Mr. Wilson called you and told you Felicity was leaving?" I asked.

"…Why don't you ask him yourself?" he said with a sly grin.

"Listen here, we're not talking about Mr. Wilson right now," I reminded him, "We're talking about you and your attack towards Felicity Smoak."

"…You have two daughters, don't you Detective Lance?"

The entire world froze when he said that. My two girls. Laurel and Sara. How the hell did he know I have them?

"There's a photo on your desk," he said, "You guys left me there while you made a few phone calls. There was a picture of you, your wife and your two girls. Which one is the youngest, by the way? The blonde one?"

"If you ever ―."

The door suddenly burst open. An old man with white hair and dressed in a dark grey suit carrying a suitcase entered the interrogation room with a sulk-look in his face. Who the fuck is he?

"Do not say another word," the old man said to Colton Smoak. His attorney. Great. Just fucking great. "I'm Colton Smoak's lawyer. He will not say another single word till you have legal proof against my client."

"He attacked a civilian," I said to him.

"Do you have any proof that my client attacked the young woman?" he asked.

"He's one the security cameras," I said.

"Is his face shown on the cameras?"

Okay. He got me there. No. His face does not show up on the camera. It was a complete disaster. No audio either. Most of the footage was caught behind Miss Smoak's car. You couldn't get a good profile on his face either. It was always either sideview or backview. Also, dust came into view when Colton fell back against the pillar. The last thing you see is Felicity standing up with a bloody pair of scissors in her hands, the bastard charging at her again and Slade Wilson punching him in the face. I am wondering if Slade did it on purpose, to make himself look like a hero in front of her. Slade Wilson needs to be interrogating though. I'm not allowed to arrest blind against the CEO of Queens Consolidated without proof or evidence he is behind this.

"Then we have nothing to talk about here," the lawyer said, "Let's go, Mr. Smoak."

"Of course." With that, they were gone. Great, now what am I going to do? The man's a completely psycho. If he tries to go anywhere near Sara or Laurel, I'm going to kill him.

* * *

Oliver's POV

We were waiting for the doctors to tell us if Felicity is all right. I blame myself for not knowing this sooner. I should have been there. Why wasn't I there when it happened? I could have saved her. But no. She decided to keep all this information to herself and letting Slade know instead. Why am I always the last one to know of what goes on?

"You think she'll be okay?" Diggle asked.

"I don't know."

Diggle kept staring at me as if he knew what I was thinking right now.

"Oliver, he saved her life," he said, "I don't care if it's a ploy or not, Felicity is alive."

"I just wished she would have me first, Dig," I said.

"Man, if I had a psycho father like that, trust me, I wouldn't be talking about it either," he said, leaning back against the wall.

"I mean, what if this is all some crazy trick Slade is pulling just to gain Felicity's trust? I mean, he'll doing anything just to kill us," I said. Diggle simply shrugged his shoulders. "If that were the case then we'd be dead already."

Speaking of the King of Rome, here he comes. Slade Wilson, the supposed saviour of the day. Jackass. The hand he used to punch the guy that tried to attack Felicity was bandaged. Weird. I thought the Mirakuru would cure any broken bones.

"What are you still doing here?" I gritted my teeth at him.

"Well, as you can see, I just received unnecessary medical attention," he said as he looked at his bandaged hand with amusement, "The nurse was surprised she could not find a singled broken bone in my hand, one of the other perks of having Mirakuru in my veins. Still, I let her bandage it."

"What are you still doing here then?" Diggle asked.

"I came here to see how Felicity was doing," he said. Bullshit. "I heard she passed and had a bad injury. Is she all right?"

I can hear a bit of concern coming from him but I don't know whether he's telling the truth or if he's bullshitting again.

"I don't know," I said, "and if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Come now, Oliver, do not be such pricks when we both know Felicity can die and not know till it's too late," he smiles. I really want to punch that smug look off his face right now. Felicity might be in danger and he thinks this is funny. Well, it's not. Like at all.

The nurse that attended Felicity earlier, Karen Beecher, approached us a few minutes later with a clipboard in her hands. She looks down at the clipboard while biting her lower lip before looking up at us.

"Oliver Queen? John Diggle? Slade Wilson?" she asked.

"Yes," we all said before exchanging dirty looks. The nurse rolled her eyes in annoyance at our behaviour. She probably sees this every day.

"Felicity Smoak's all right," she said, "She'll be fine. She simply had a glass jabbed on the back of her head, in a small area between the skull and the neck. The doctors had to carefully remove it so it wouldn't cause much damage. The glass measured at least 2 inches and went further into the head when she got attacked. Luckily it didn't severe a mayor artery or hit any of the nerves of her brains."

We all sighed in relief. It surprised me even Slade was relieved that Felicity is okay. But I can't trust him, not after what he did to my mother or for what he did to Thea. We can't let him see her.

"Can we see her?" Slade asked. I bet when he meant by _we_ he means _him_. And I don't want him to see Felicity, not by a long shot.

"She just woke up from sedation," the nurse said, "She needs rest. I don't think it's a good idea to have visitors right now."

"And I think we should do as the nurse says," I say sternly to Slade, making sure he got the message clearly. He's not going anywhere near her and that's final. But as usually, Slade brushed me off like a bug on his shoulder.

"Give me five minutes," he said to the nurse.

"…Three minutes. That's all you get, Mr. Wilson," she said before walking away from the waiting room.

"Would you like to take to the opportunity what the fuckshit are you playing at right now?" I snapped the question at him.

"Oliver, this is not the place to be fighting right now," Diggle says behind me, "In case you've forgotten, we're in a hospital and there are kids in here. Don't go off losing your cool by going all Green Breeches on Pirate Man here."

Green Breeches? Pirate Man? The fuck?

"I agree with Mr. Diggle, all except the last part," Slade said, "I have more things to worry about than you right now. I won't be long." He walked away.

As he was leaving, Sara came into the hospital with the little girl Rachel Roth holding her hand. Why did she bring her here? Why can't Sara just leave her with a babysitter? She was looking over her shoulder, watching Slade walking away as if she already knew him, before she looks back at us. I look at the kid's face. She looks distressed. Does she know that it's Felicity that's injured? Did Sara tell her? Doubt it. I don't think Sara would want to worry her by telling her she's in the hospital.

"Is Felicity going to die?" she asked.

We all looked at her. Sara crouches down next to her and assures her that she's not hurt. "I don't want her to die again." Again? How does she know she died the first time? How does she know any of this?

"She's going to be all right," Sara assured her though I doubt she believes her, "It's just a scratch."

She simply shook her head. "I don't believe you. She got attacked."

"Sweetheart, she's not going to die," she said.

"If she's not going to die, who then?"

I look at her. What did she meant by that?

* * *

Slade's POV

Let me be honest, I have no idea what the hell just happened. One second, I was in the elevator trying to return Miss Smoak's car keys as an excuse to apologize, next thing I know I was sucker punching her father. I didn't know what came over me that moment. I just completely snapped, seeing her getting attacked that way. What surprised me most was the injury Felicity left on his face when she slashed him. She still held the bloody scissors in her hands, shaking like a dog after being given a bath. I had to pry them away from her fingers to keep her from creating more damage. She was shaking badly. She needed a doctor. I didn't know she needed it this badly though.

I entered the room the nurse indicated me. Room 102. She was lying down on the hospital bed. She was not attached to any monitors or respiratory systems which is a relief for me. She was breathing just fine. She simply had bandages around her neck to cover up the stitched wound on the back of her head. She looked tired but she was smiling to herself all the way. I remember a few things that can happen after you recently wake up from sedation. You can act a little odd, if that is the correct word for it.

When she saw me, the smile disappears.

"It's all right," I said, "I am not here to harm you."

"…I know," she said. That was unexpecting, "I'm just surprised you had the balls to come here and see me…Well, not balls in literal. I meant balls as in the guts to come here. Well, the courage to come here. Why would I use the word balls if that meaning did not...You know what scratch it. Forget I said that."

I chuckled. Same old babbling Felicity. And no one can tell if it's actually her talking or the sedation. She kept giggling to herself like a crazy person would do.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Fine. I think I'm fine. Am I fine? I don't ― What was the question again?" she kept saying and I chuckle again. I think she's still under the effects of sedation. She's even swinging her head sideways and humming like a schoolgirl. "Wow, I feel so relaxed right now. My head doesn't hurt anymore, do you know that?" I have been confirmed that the glass jabbed into her head was the cause of her headaches and why she passed out. She must have been in a lot of pain. What I'd like to know is how it happened. "I think I can wear my ponytail again, I hope. I'm kind of liking my hair down now."

"You can wear it however you like," I tell her. She starts giggling again.

"You sucker punch my Dad even though I already cut his face with a pair of scissors. Wow, everything is so bright," she began to say. I nearly frowned at the mention of her father but she seems to change the subject very quickly "There are like a bunch of bright lights here flashing. They have different colours. Pink. Blue. Green. Red. Yellow. Orange. I like orange. Do you like orange? I don't know if you like orange but I like orange. It's like really orangy and it tastes orangy. You wear orange and black so it has to be your favourite colour. "

"The doctors said you'll be fine," I tell her, "You just need to rest."

"Aw," she pouted, "I don't even feel sleepy. Sleepy. Do you hear someone using a vacuum cleaner? I thought I heard someone using the vacuum cleaner, in my backyard."

I honestly do not hear a vacuum cleaner. This girl is definitely high on sedation. I should ask the nurse how long it will take till she comes down from the anesthesia. It will probably take hours till she feels herself again.

"You're under medication, Miss Smoak," I reminded her, "It's best if you rest."

"So I'm pretty much cuckoo bird right now. Wow. That's fun. Like _weee_ fun."

I walked over to her bed. She stiffened when I approached. I thought she'd recoil. But she seems calm, calmer than she was yesterday and this morning. She stiffened again when I reached into the pocket of my coat. "I brought you something."

"Don't tell me you brought a gun in the hospital? I've never used a gun before," she said, "I hope to use one in the future. I think. No? Am I still talking crazy? Hmm." I take out a flower from my pocket and gave it to her. A white rose. She look at it strangely before smiling and pressing it to her face. "It's pretty, and very soft." I took it from a pharmacy nearby. I don't think they mind one flower missing. "Oliver will definitely not be happy seeing this in my hands. I don't think he'll want you here either."

"I came here to make sure you were feeling better," I said, "Now I must depart."

"You're leaving?" she asked. I caught the disappointing tone in her voice. She even started tugging at my arm sleeve, "Come on, don't leave. We were already having such a nice conversation without bickering like married couple. Not that we are actually married. It's metaphorically speaking. I'm on wacky meds right so give me a damn break."

She probably doesn't remember what we were bickering about this morning. Probably when she comes down from the medication, she'll remember what the bickering was about and probably would deny my company. Still, I am glad to see the colour on her face returning and no longer looks like a corpse.

"You know, when you're not so scary and when you are not killing people, you're kind of handsome in some ways."

"Get well soon, Miss Smoak," I tell her.

"Can I ask you a question before I end up going loopy again," she said, "I'm still here even though I'm still spaced out…When you attacked old daddy dearest…What was going through that big head of yours? Seriously, your head is like enormous right now. Is it my imagination or are you inflating like a balloon about to explode?"

It's just her imagination. But she was right about what she was asking me. Of course, I didn't want to answer that question. What happen happened. I don't need to give her explanations why I behaved that way or why I became enraged when Colton was attacking her. I do know what made me snapped. But that was a long time ago

I nearly laughed at her last comment. She is quite lovely. I counted the minutes we spoke. 6 minutes. It took a lot longer than the nurse allowed me to. I did not even bother walking pass Oliver or his team. I simply decided to make my way out when I suddenly ran into Detective Lance and three more cops. I stopped in my tracks when I saw them standing there a few feet away from me. What is it that they want?

"Slade Wilson," Detective Lance said.

"Yes? Is there a problem?" I asked.

"We need you to come with us for a while," he said, "We want to ask a few questions."

"Of course."

I think I know what this is about. Colton Smoak. I keep thinking back at Felicity's question of why I attacked Colton the way I did. I know why. It was something my brother did and I couldn't do anything about it. And I am still ashamed to admit what happened to this day.

* * *

 _"_ _Hey, did you hear there some kind of Jack the Ripper out here wandering in the streets at night, stalking little children like us?" I asked my brother Wade. He was playing throwing the ball against the wall in an alleyway. I just sat on the top of a dumpster and watch._

 _"_ _And by little kids, you mean_ _ **you**_ _?" he asks rhetorically as he continued throwing the ball, which would bounce back with every throw. I sigh and rolled my eyes in annoyance. Our relationship had been really strained these days. I've been hanging out with Adeline these days. Wade kept asking me where I've going these days but I refused to tell him. I actually told him it was none of his business and he smacked me in the head. I never mentioned Adeline to him, afraid that he might do something bad to her thinking I tattletale him. I don't want my brother hurting her._

 _"_ _Do you really there's a Jack the Ripper around here?" I asked him._

 _"…_ _Shit I know," he said without looking at me. "You want to find out?"_

 _"_ _Nah. Just asking," I said. I sighed and tapped the lid of the dumpster with my fingertips. "Can we do something else besides throwing balls around?"_

 _"_ _Sure, if you tell me where the fuck you've been these day," he said._

 _"_ _Pass then. I ain't telling you no shit. You won't tell me no shit, I ain't telling you shit," I said._

 _Wade would never tell me of his whereabouts either. I am imaging him buying drugs or killing other people for money. I never wanted to be involved in that shit of his. Right now, I keep questioning the decision we made of running away from home. I know that living with our father is crap but at least we weren't killing anyone. This is becoming a disaster for us both. Adeline still suspects that I know who the kill of grandfather is. Wade is doing a lot of bad things. And now I hear the police are searching for us after so many years. Did it really take this long for our father to want us back? It's been years now. I don't want to go back home with our father but I don't want to be in the streets either. Was running away from home really worth it?_

 _Wade suddenly throwing his ball around when something caught his attention. A girl. A schoolgirl. She looks about fifteen with wavy red orange hair and pale skin. She was wearing a white blouse with a short floral skirt and handles, and was carrying a brown leather satchel around with her. She's probably heading her way to school. A public school. Private schools only allow you in uniforms. She's very pretty though not really my type. She's much too old for me. Of course, Wade seems to like her. A little too much however._

 _"_ _Hey, you!" Wade calls out. The girl stops in her tracks to look at my brother and me, but mostly my brother. "Do you mind giving me your phone number?" he asked. Really?_

 _"_ _Creep!" the girl snaps and she walked away faster. This didn't seem to please Wade, knowing he does not take_ _ **no**_ _for an answer. I jump off the dumpster and tug at my brother's arm._

 _"_ _Come on, Wade, let's go," I said._

 _But he didn't listen to me. He didn't even look at him. He just continued to see the girl walk away. Come on, Wade. I want to leave now. You better not do anything stupid. Come on._

 _"_ _I'll be right back," said as he walked out of the alleyway, "Wait here."_

 _Before I could stop him, he already began following the girl. And she's not even noticing. No, Wade, no. "Wade!" Wade turned to look at me with a glare but so did the girl. When she noticed she was being followed by my brother, she bolted. Knowing that she was running, Wade brushed me off and bolted after her. "Wade no!" The girl had made a turn to another alley which is the worst decision you can ever make when running away from a thug or a killer. And Wade went to the same direction she did. I wanted to go after them and stop Wade but my feet were glued to the floor. I was too scared to go after my brother. I was scared that he might hurt me if I tried to stop him._

 _Next thing I heard was the girl screaming. Once this happen, I sat down behind the dumpster with my knees up my chest and my hands covering my ears. This is not happening. This can't happen. My brother had never done this before. He's hurting her. He's making her scream and she won't stop screaming. She was in a lot of pain and she was scared. Why couldn't Wade stop hurting her? She didn't do anything wrong. I started crying. I just wanted the screams to stop._

 _And they did, with a loud_ ** _crack_** _._

* * *

Felicity's POV

I woke up a few hours later, feeling tired and feeling a bit heavy. I woke up with a jump of course, feeling somewhat strange. I had this dream. I can't tell whether it was a dream or some glimpse of the past I just witness. I didn't remember what it was about. All I remember is that the dream ended with a loud _crack_ noise in the background and hearing a boy cry hysterically. When I opened my eyes, I saw Oliver, Diggle, Sara and Rachel in the room. Rachel smiled at me while the others sighed of relief. Don't act so surprised. This is not the first time I ended up in a hospital and probably won't be the last.

"How are you feeling?" Sara asked.

"Fine," I said. I don't feel headaches anymore. That's a good thing, I think. Just a very stinging sensation on the back of my head. "My head doesn't hurt anymore."

"You gave us a big scare, girl," Diggle said.

"Yeah, and I am sorry for that," I croaked, "If I had mentioned my Dad earlier, maybe none of this would have happened." I shouldn't be talking about this in front of Rachel but I already opened up my big mouth. For some reason, I'm beginning to feel like myself again. I don't feel pain. I don't feel so stressed out nor do I feel angry anymore. I feel like a ton of weight just lifted off somehow.

"Doctors had you sedated for a couple of hours and thought you needed rest," Oliver said.

"Yeah, I know," I said, "I was technically on wacky meds for many hours, I think. I can't really remember what happened when I woke up on meds. I was loopy and hallucinating."

"So you don't remember Slade visiting you today?" Oliver asked and he soon closed his eyes as if he said something bad. Slade was here? When? I don't remember him coming in here. I was all high on wacky meds. I didn't know he came in here to visit me.

I shook my head in confusion. "No."

"There's a rose next to you, Felicity," Rachel pointed at the small table next to the hospital bed. There was a single white rose lying there. I don't remember having that with me. "Did he bring that for you?" Did he?

Wait a second. I do remember now. He _was_ here. He spoke to me. Oh, God, this is just humiliating. What did I even say to him? I must have said something stupid while on wacky meds. Is it too late to want to die right now? But still, I think it was sweet of him to bring me a flower, and not wanting to put a bullet in my head. It kind of surprises me he actually bothered to visit after everything I said to him, and during the feud he and Oliver are facing right now. I've been caught in the middle of a war zone and if I'm not careful, I can end up Swiss cheese with bullet holes everywhere. But right now, I don't think Slade wants to do me any personal harm. He only wants to hurt Oliver and does it through me. But I can sense some regret in him. Still, can I really forgive him for the things he has done and for the inerasable image stuck in my head of him and Isabel having sex? I don't really know.

"What happened to me?" That was the first question I asked instead of asking where Slade was. I didn't want to anger Oliver with that question. Diggle soon explained to me that the doctors found a shard of glass jabbed at the back of my head and it had to be removed immediately before it caused me more damage. Is that why I've been having so many headaches? Because of a stupid glass. Damn it. I'm betting that's what Cisco was trying to say to me when I called him before the line cut off after I arrived at the parking lot where my father would be waiting for me. I sigh at the thought of dying from a piece of glass. Well, that was one ridiculous way to go although it wouldn't have been as bad as being attacked in my sleep while being in a coma. I just have one question. "How did I get a shard of glass on the back of my head?"

"When you got shocked by William Tockman, you fell back and crashed into the glass casements," Diggle said to me, "Looks like one of broken glass got stuck on your head."

"I don't think it's a good idea talking about this with _her_ around," Oliver said while looking down at Rachel. I stare at Oliver in disbelief. Really Oliver? I'm in a freaking hospital right. The last thing I want is for Sara leaving her alone while visiting me, especially when we have dangerous enemies that will find any gap to fill in. I have no problem talking about William Tockman in front of Rachel. In fact, I don't know why Oliver is talking about Rachel like that, acting like she was a spy or an enemy or something. She's only six years old. She doesn't even know William Tockman. I doubt she even knows what we're talking about right now.

"Sara, can you come back with Rachel in five minutes, please?" I asked her. Wow, my throat is sore. How am I going to scream again if my throat is sore? Wait, shouldn't that be a good thing? No, screaming is a good thing when you're being attacked, a way to call for help. What I meant to say was my new abilities. I was too afraid to use them. I only used them because my father was going to kill me. He tried to strangle me in the parking lot of Queens Consolidated. Now I don't know if I'll ever use it again.

"Um, sure, okay," she said before glancing at Rachel, "Come, Rachel, do you want to see the newborn babies?"

"Okay," she nodded and looked at me, "Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded and she walks out of the room with Sara. Once they were out of the room, I gave Oliver a serious look.

"Didn't we already agree that you'll show a bit of respect next time Rachel is here? Didn't we?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You did agree to that, man," Diggle said. Thank you, Diggle. At least I still have a few people that have my back. Why can't Oliver see how important Rachel is to me?

"I know," Oliver sighed.

"Then, don't you dare talk to her like that, ever," I gritted my teeth at him, "I may feel better now but that doesn't mean you'll show any disrespect."

"Sorry," he said, "I'm just not really happy knowing Slade is getting away with everything. You know, he killed my mother, Felicity. He kidnapped my sister and now doesn't want to talk to me because I lied to her about her father. He kidnapped you and your mother and threatened to kill you. And you're acting like it's nothing. I think I have a really good reason why I'm not in a good mood."

"Do you really think I'm not scared of Slade? On the contrary, I'm still scared of him. I'm terrified. You have no idea how hard it is to sleep without the feeling someone can kill you in your sleep. I don't care if it's Colton or Slade, you will never disrespect Rachel again. Again, do we have an understanding?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Good. Can you tell me what happened to my _father_ , if I can actually call him that?" I asked.

"Quentin has him under police custody," Diggle informed me, "They're interrogating that son of a bitch."

" _Son of bitch_ is too nice of a word for someone like him." _Motherfucker_ is more likely to be the correct term to describe someone like my father. "Are they going to arrest him?"

"We don't know," Oliver said, "We'll hear from Detective Lance soon."

"I hope his ass gets thrown in jail," Diggle said. Believe me, so do I. I want him out of my life for good.

But what if he gets out of jail? What if they set him free and he comes after me again? If he does, I doubt I'll survive next time. What happened this morning was a stroke of luck. Next time, I might not be so lucky. He was strong. He had strong hands (even if he was not as strong as Slade) and I have the bruises to prove it. I'm not strong enough to take down my father on my own. Against my wishes, I need training to defend myself from my father's attacks.

"I need to talk to Sara."

* * *

Sara's POV

You know, I wish Oliver and I could have kids. Just looking at those newborns next to each other behind the glass window in that little room and holding Rachel's hands just makes me want to have a kid. I don't know if Oliver wants a kid and I don't care if he wants a kid or not. I want a kid. I don't think Nyssa and I can have kids since we're the same sex. Adoption? Adoption can work. But I doubt they'll allow same sex couples to adopt children. I miss Nyssa. I wonder how she's doing right now.

"You talk a lot," I heard Rachel say, making me jump. I wasn't even talking. I was just thinking. Deep in my thoughts.

"I didn't say anything," she said.

"Didn't you?" she asked. A bit confused, I shook my head. She shrugged her shoulders, "I must have imagined things though your voice could be heard loud and clear in my head. Felicity talks a lot, did you know that? Some people call her a _chatterbox_."

To be honest, she is kind of a _chatterbox_. Felicity does talk a lot and she can sometimes say things out of context. But that's what makes her adorable and funny. She's funny, smart, adorable and a bit of a dork. She _adorkable_. Hmm. If she was bi, I would have considered dating her. She would have been great as a partner.

I'm a little bit concerned about this girl. Felicity told me that Rachel is different but I didn't know she was _this_ strange. She said I was talking a lot but I didn't even move my lips. I didn't say anything, and yet she heard me talk. Is she okay? Felicity told me about her current situation, how the court is still monitoring her after she was found next to her mother's dead body, covered in blood. They say Rachel savagely killed her mother but there's no evidence that she attacked her mother. They simply found her holding her mother's dead body. Does she have some kind of condition Felicity forgot to tell me about? Schizophrenia? Bipolarity? Psychosis? Multiple personality? I've heard of a lot of kids killing their parent who ended up diagnosed with multiple personalities. Maybe Rachel did attack her mother and doesn't know it. But every time I look at her, I doubt Rachel did any harm to anyone. She's a good girl and very smart, just like Felicity said.

She looks at me sorrowfully and sighs. What's wrong?

"Do you think I'm weird?" she asks, "Everyone else does."

"You're just different, that's all," I said, "We all are. We just have a very different kind of different."

"I guess….Can we go back to Felly? I didn't like the man being mean to her," she said.

"Oliver is just a bit cranky today," I tell her, "But he's a really nice guy once you get to know him."

Let's be honest, Oliver was a complete douchebag when I met him. He was once in love with Laurel but was having an affair with me. Laurel soon reconciled with Oliver and breaking Tommy Merlyn's heart. But of course, it all ended with Laurel choosing Tommy and he dies during the earthquake. And now he and I are back together even though I still like Nyssa and everyone in Queens Consolidated thinks Oliver and Felicity have an affair which is so untrue, due to the things I've heard going on between her and Slade Wilson. Ooh God. My brain hurts just thinking about it.

"Do you want to see more of the hospital, you know, a little unauthorized tour around the place," I said in a daring way.

"Cancer," she said. I frown at her. What? Excuse me? "There's an area with kids with cancer. Can we go and see it?"

"Sure," I nodded. I thought it was a bit odd she wanted to visit kids with cancer. But if she wants to see it, I don't see why not.

We arrived there. Okay, I feel like I want to go back to the babies right now. This is just sad, seeing the little kids lying in their beds asleep. Some of them had respiratory systems attached to them with plastic masks on the face. And some twist and turned in their beds in pain or boredom. Most of them were all bald and pale in the face. It's just sad seeing them like this. I don't know why Rachel wanted to see this place. I look at her. She did not look afraid or sad. She looks completely calm which is kind of unnerving for me.

A girl with cancer was coughing very badly near us. She's very sick. Her lips were pale and cracked. Next thing I know Rachel went up to her. "Rachel, come back here," I whispered so I wouldn't wake up the other kids.

"Are you sick?" she asked. The girl looked about ten or twelve, a bit older than Rachel. She continued to cough before looking at her.

"Yeah," she said.

"What kind of cancer is it?"

"A heart tumor…in here," the girl croaked as she places a hand to her chest. "It hurts a bit."

"Can I…?"

"Sure."

Rachel stands on her toes for a better reach and places her hands against the girl's chest. We are so gonna get caught for this. So much for babysitting.

"I can feel it," she said, "It's a bump on your chest."

"Doctors say it's a mass growing around my heart," the girl said, "They say it will continue growing till it covers up the entire thing and I can't breathe anymore. Doctors told my mom that there was nothing they can do. I only have three days to live. They say they'll give me anesthesia so I will die in my sleep and not feel any pain."

I noticed tears welling up Rachel's eyes as well as the little girl's. But Rachel did not cry. "I wanted to be a dancer when I grow up, a ballet dancer," the girl with cancer said. "Looks like that's not going to happen."

"…Yeah it will," Rachel said. She did not move her hand from her chest, "You're going to be a great ballet dancer. Everyone is going to see your pretty dances. You'll dance _Swan Lake_. You'll dance _The Nutcracker_ and the Swan Queen."

"How will I do that if I'm dying?" she asked as she coughed again though it was less hoarse now.

"You're not going to die," Rachel said. Okay, this is sweet but it's also giving me the creeps, "You'll be cured in no time, you'll grow your hair back, you will sleep without pain, you can go outside and breathe fresh air and bathe in warm sunlight, and you'll grow up to be a dancer like you wanted."

"Do you believe so?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Excuse me!" We suddenly heard a female nurse arrive and she did not sound at all happy to see us in here, "No visitors allowed at this hour! Those are the rules!"

"They were just talking, nurse," I said as politely as possible even though I want to smack her in the face.

"Oh really? Then pack it up!" she said harshly. "This girl needs to be checked by a doctor. This is a hospital, not a kindergarten ―."

"Nurse, how many times must I tell you to be more flexible with the patients?" one of the doctors entered. Dr. Karen Beecher. She was attending Felicity this morning. I thought she was a paramedic. "Forgive her behaviour but she is right. We cannot have visitors at this hour and I need to attend my patient. So if you don't mind, I need you outside." Well, that was less harsh.

"Okay, sure," I said, "Come on, Rachel."

Rachel nodded. She looked at the girl and smiled thoughtfully. The girl smiled back and Rachel returned to my side.

"Okay, Barbara, honey," Dr. Beecher continued as we were leaving, "I need you stay very still and breathe deep for me while I give a quick check on your heart."

The young girl named Barbara nodded in agreement. Dr. Beecher use a stereoscope to press it against her chest as well as her hand to feel her chest. The girl breathed deep. The doctor frowned a bit "What?"

"Come on, Rachel, let's go back to Felicity," I tell her.

"Okay, Sara."

We walked away from the area but not without hearing what was happening in there.

"Something is off," the doctor said.

"What is it?" the nurse asked.

"Her heart. The tumor…Where's the tumor?"

"What do you mean where is it?"

"…It's gone."

Oh my God. I think I know what's going on. I think Rachel is a metahuman. She can read mind and she healed that girl's heart tumor. I don't think Felicity knows about this.

Rachel and I go back to the room where Felicity, Diggle and Oliver were. Rachel immediately lets go and runs in to embrace Felicity, wrapping her arms around her and pressing her face against hers. I don't know if it's a good idea telling her of what just happened. I don't want to ruin Felicity's life by telling her Rachel is a metahuman. What if something bad happens by just telling her?

"Okay, um, Rachel," Felicity said, "I need to talk to Sara for a minute. Can you wait outside with Diggle? He's a really nice man."

"What is this? Hot potato?" I fought the urge to laugh when she said that. That is so adorable.

"Yeah, and you're the hot potato," Felicity said, "Now go on. I'll see you in a bit."

Rachel nods her head before following Diggle and Oliver out the door. "Would you like some ice cream?" Diggle asked. "Nah. Maybe later," she said.

Once they left, I sat down at the foot of the bed. I noticed the colour returning to Felicity's face. She looks less dead now. And her lips were pink again. She wanted to talk to me about something. About what? Could she tell me about Rachel being metahuman (if she knows that is), or is it something else she wants to tell me?

"Can you do me a favour?" she asked while biting her lower lip, "I'm not really asking for favours but in this case, I kind of do need a favour and I hope you and I can come to some kind of agreement."

Good old chatterbox Felicity is back. I'm actually kind of glad she's her old chatty self again.

"What is it?"

"Okay, prepare for crazy talk…Um, I need you to train me," she said.

I stare at her in shock. Training? "You mean, as in…"

"Yep," she nodded her head, "Combat training. Kickboxing. Kung Fu. Taekwondo. Anything. But I really need training."

"Felicity, I don't know if I can help you with that," I said. Training people to fight takes a very long time. It takes a lot of strength and energy, and I don't think Felicity is cut out for this kind of stuff.

"But I really need it. Please Sara," she begged.

"But why ―?"

"Because I'm scare. I'm scared of my father. I know that he will not stay in jail for long. I know that he'll be out soon. I don't know how, but I know. And I'm scare that he'll be waiting for me at my apartment to kill me. If that happens, I don't think I'll live next time he attacks. Today, I was lucky. Next time I won't be so lucky. Please, Sara, it's all I'm asking."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I'm asking.

"Yes."

"…All right."

* * *

Slade's POV

I honestly do not know why I'm here at the police station. I have been here before, when I took hostage of Thea Queen but the police suspected nothing of me. This time, I honestly do not know why the SCPD brought me here for. At least they did not handcuff me. It would be an annoyance if they handcuffed me for no reason. I can easily break out of these though.

"Slade Wilson, is it?" Detective Lance entered the interrogation room. He didn't seem pleased to see me. Believe, this is the last place I want to be with so many things I have to do. This is a waste of my precious time. "You're now the new CEO of Queens Consolidated, is that correct?"

"The announcement was only a few months ago," I say, "but yes, I am thanks to my co-president Isabel Rochev."

"Hmm. Interesting," he says as he sat across. What does he mean by interesting? What was he trying to say there. "I kind of looked at your history, Mr. Wilson. You were once in the military in Australia, right?"

"It's classified information from the government officials but yes," I responded. Some of the information they have gathered are false thanks to a few IT hacktivists I came across with. Oliver is not the only one with an IT extraordinaire.

"You are unmarried and with no kids." Like that part for example. I did have a wife. I did have a son. But they now think I'm dead and they are moving their lives without me. I'd rather if they did.

"Can I ask why I am here?"

"Sure. You're here because of Colton Smoak," he says.

I suspected it. I'm being questioned for what?

"If it is a statement you want about what happened, I'll be glad to give it to you," I said.

"That's exactly what we wanted to ask," he said, "We spoke to Colton Smoak a few hours ago. He claims he got an anonymous phone call, saying where Felicity was and at what time she would leave."

"So they called. This was planned then? I am wondering who would do something like that, going at such lengths."

"I'd like to ask you that same question," he said.

"Pardon me?"

"Don't you think it's a little convenient that you simply happened to show up just at that moment Colton Smoak was attacking Felicity so you can save her?"

Are you fucking kidding me with this?

"You think I had to do with any of this?" I asked harshly. They're accusing me of being involved in Felicity's recent attack.

"A few days ago, Felicity Smoak accused you of kidnapping her and her mother Donna Smoak and using them both to expose the Arrow in front of Starling City. When we tried to identify the body, she was surprised that it wasn't you beneath the Deathstroke mask. And now she gets attacked again and this time by her own father after he got an anonymous phone call of where she would be at that very moment and you just show up and sucker punched the bastard. Not to mention that we also found footage where the two of you were arguing before she left the company and you followed her a few minutes later. Don't you think that's a little bit strange? I'm guessing that you might have done it just to look like a hero in front of her ―."

"Detective Lance, I recommend you calm your words and do not speak to me that way," I said politely but I was trying to fight the urge to kill him right here in the police station for accusing me of attempt against Felicity Smoak's life. "I had nothing to do with what happened there. I will not deny that we had a small argument. A very insignificant one. And yes, I did follow her a few minutes later but I had no intentions to harm her."

"Then who made the phone call?" he asked more incisive. If I knew I would say. But I did not know anything about this so he cannot expect for me to know. I made no attempt against Felicity's life today.

"I don't know. If I knew I would tell you."

"Then why did you follow her? Did you know she'd be in danger?"

"No." I sigh before reaching into my pocket and take out what does not belong to me. Keys. Felicity's keys, the ones she had left on the desk. I placed them on the table for Detective Lance to see. It had a keychain of a yellow happy face and a small picture frame of a cat. "Those are Felicity's keys."

"How did you get a hold of them?"

"She left them on her desk when she was leaving," I explained, "I assumed she would come back for them but I decided to return them to her instead. It also gave me the excuse to go up to her and apologize."

"For what?"

"For a few inappropriate gestures and words I have spoken to her which I rather not share for now," I said though I was not going to say the entire story. Slade Wilson CEO of Queens Consolidated is fucking Isabel Rochev co-CEO sounds like a nice headline for the newspaper and one I would find displeasing. I do not want people thinking Isabel and I are in a relationship nor do I want her to think so as well. She and I have nothing going on. If this information comes out, it will interfere with my plans against Oliver Queen. "But I did not try to inflict any harm on Felicity Smoak, I can promise you that."

"And why would you save her? You hate Oliver Queen which means you also hate the people around him. Why would you save the friend of your worst enemy?"

"I did not say I hate him. I do dislike him a bit but that does not evolve into hate." That's actually a lie. I do hate him, with every bone in my body as well as the detective's daughter Sara Lance. I even wish for them to simply drop dead. But I do not hate Felicity. I simply have mixed feelings about her. "When I saw her being attacked, I couldn't simply stand there, so, I took action. Of course, she took care of herself very well, due to the condition Mr. Smoak was left. My hopes is for him to rot in prison for the violent assault he almost inflicted upon Miss Smoak."

"Yeah, well keep hoping," he said in displeasure, "Colton's lawyer was here earlier and unless we have actually evidence that he attacked Felicity, he's out of the station."

I stare at him in disbelief. "You let him free? How could you allow that bastard to go free?"

"Believe me, buddy, I'm just as pissed off about this as you are but unless I have more evidence, I can't have him here. The footage on the security camera was no good because it did not show his face. The lawyer can say a lot of bullshit like it was someone else that attacked Felicity Smoak."

"The wound on his face ―."

"They'll say bullshit like Felicity was the one who attacked first and not Colton."

I ran a hand over my face and sighed in frustration. This cannot be happening. They cannot simply let that bastard go just like that. He's after Felicity. They should that once he's out, he'll go after her again. Next time, she might not be able to escape death.

"So what now? You'll simply pretend it never happened?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Trust me. I wish I could. But I can't since I've seen a lot of fuck up shit in his profile."

Detective Lance showed me a few photographs of the murder victims caused by Colton Smoak, including Felicity's mother Evelyn though the police still believes it was suicide. They were all gruesome. And most of these victims were blondes.

"Here's what I need you to do and as much as I don't like it, I need you to keep a close eye on Felicity Smoak. Well, I mean, I need you to pay close attention. You know what I mean." I'm guessing he wasn't trying to refer to my remaining eye. Keeping an eye on Felicity. Not an easy task since she does not want me near me nor does she want to see me, not even after what happened. Of course, I do not know that since she recently awoke from sedation. But I can do what I can. No promises.

"If Colton tries to come near Miss Smoak, Detective, I can promise you I won't hesitate killing him, and that's a promise I'm willing to keep."

"You'll be arrested for murder then."

"And do you really think I give a shit?" I asked rhetorically.

"No."

* * *

 **Okay guys, here I have the next chapter to Black Smoak and I am exhausted as hell trying to write this. Ever since the last episode on Wednesday, I was completely drained. People keep rambling "Oh, Felicity is dead" or "No, she's not dead". And it's going on back and forth and it's driving me nuts but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing the fanfiction. I'm just saying that it makes it even harder since I don't know what's going to happen next. I hope things turn out all right. If not, then may Felicity Smoak rest in peace. May Felicity Smoak be at peace. My opinion, if she dies, I think I rather if she stays that. Just don't let Oliver Queen bring her back with the Lazarus Pit. Just don't do it. I rather have** **Felicity resting in peace than having crazy psycho Felicity from a Lazarus Pit. It just hurts seeing her suffer more than she have already since we all know what happened to Sara when she was brought back from the dead. Imagine if that happened to Felicity or worse.** **No matter how cool it looks, I really don't want to see that. Also, I've just read on the news on Google that Felicity might not die yet since there a lot of things that mismatched and things that were not concluded.** **I don't know. I'm just a writer here, folks. Let's cross our fingers.**

 **Anyways, thanks everyone for your patience and for understand my frustration. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Black Smoak. Please leave a comment down below and tell me what you liked and disliked of this chapter and follow, and I will be writing a next chapter soon. See ya and happy holidays. I hope.**


	16. Chapter 16: Bad Dinner

**Chapter 16:**

 **Felicity's POV**

"Okay, Felicity, first you need to spread your legs apart and keep your body straight," Sara kept positioning me in front of the _muk yan jong_ to practice wing chun, saying that it was good for close hand to hand combat for smaller people like us. I'll try to take that as a compliment. "Just imagine it's one of the bad guys. They'll try to punch you sideways to the face. You don't want that. You want to detain the attack. Block the attack as hard as you can and since he has no protection on front, you have the advantage to strike him. You punch him in the face, gut or groin. Whichever you choose."

"Yeah, I rather not put my hands on a guy's phallus just yet," I tell her.

"You know it's easier if you use the word _dick_ ," she said.

"Yeah, but…" I trailed off as I pointed at Rachel sitting in the corner reading a book and listening to music. I told her we would be having an adult talk while training. I don't want to curse while she's around here. I know that Oliver would not be happy with me bringing her here but I don't trust leaving her alone with anyone, not even with Sara. Sorry Sara. It's nothing personal.

"She can't hear us," Sara pointed out.

"Ear phones aren't soundproof," I said.

"Come on, focus. Remember what I'm telling you. Firm feet and keep it straight," she said, patting me on the back.

Straight. Okay. I did as she said, slamming my hand as hard as I could against one of the wooden arms and using my fist to punch the dummy in front of me, pretending it was another man. But I was pretending it was my father.

"Good," Sara nodded in approval with her arms crossed. "Your punch is good but you're going to have to give it a bit of more force. If you punch a bigger guy, like Slade for example, he's not going to feel a thing. So, punch harder."

And I did, and the sound of my knuckles bashing against wood and felt echoed across the Clocktower. Okay, _ow_ , that hurt. I breathed deeply as I shook my aching hand. Good thing I'm wearing fighting gloves. I wanted to use boxing gloves but Sara said no. It's not real hand to hand combat if you're wearing boxing gloves, she says. I don't want to know how painful it is when you're not wearing gloves.

"Does it hurt?" she asks. I nod. "Good. It means you're using force. It's supposed to hurt. And that's not the worst part. When you're not wearing gloves, that's where the pain increases. But the worst part is when your enemy punches you back. You can't let them hit you so that's why I recommended wing chun. Also, once you punch your enemy in the gut, he'll be crouching forward in pain and gasping for air which gives you the opportunity to knee him or her under the chin. It will cause to break teeth and knock out an opponent."

Good to know then.

"Right now, I want you to practice the punching," she says as she made me turn to face her and grabbed my wrists to hold my fists up. "Punch me in the face."

"What? No. I'm not punching you in the face," I objected. I'm not going to hit Sara in the face.

"You want to know how to punch?"

"Yeah but…"

"Then punch me," she insisted, readying herself for me to attack. I don't want to punch her.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't. Come on, punch me," she said.

Okay then. God forgive me. I punched her in the face. But she didn't seem to be satisfied with the punch I gave her.

"You held back, didn't you?"

"Sort of," I admitted.

"You can't hold back, Felicity. You didn't even break my noise. The opponent is going to eat you alive if you don't use enough strength to knock it out."

"I don't want to knock you out nor do I want to break your nose," I objected.

"Do you want Colton to attack you again?"

"No."

"Then try harder. Come on, again."

I took a deep breath before punching her in the face again, harder this time. She stumbles back when I did that and fell on her ass. Oh God.

"I'm sorry," I stammered.

"Nah. You're doing good," she said as she stood up, "Still have not broken a nose yet."

"Why is it so important to break your nose? I don't even want to break your nose," I said.

"Because I want to see if you are actually capable of hurting someone," she said with a smirk.

Um, I don't think I'm capable of hurting someone. I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to defend myself against my father, not punch random people in the face. Of course, I can punch Slade in the face if he tries to harass me but I'll simply end up breaking my hand in the process.

"Okay, how about we try this, I'll attack you and you try to defend yourself from me, okay?"

Oh boy. That did not sound good. Sara attacking me? Is she going to take it easy on me? I don't know.

"So, ready?"

"I ―."

Before I could say anything, Sara immediately tackled me to the floor and pinned me down. Okay, not that hurt. Rachel gasped in shock when she looked up and saw this.

"I'm okay, Rachel. Don't worry about it," I groaned in pain, "It's just training even if it hurts a lot."

"Okay, Felicity," Sara said, "I have you right where I want you. What are you going to do about it? What's your next move?"

I struggled, trying to push Sara off me but she was really heavy. I don't have the strength to push her off me. I even tried pushing my knees up but that failed also. "Really? Is that the best you can do? You got to show something." I do know one more thing I can do. Without warning, I spit in Sara's face.

"Gah!" she cries out and tries to wipe off the saliva from her face. Distracted by my move, I immediately push her off me and scrambled back on my feet in a fighting stance.

Sara got up from the floor and wiped her face clean with her wrist. "That was sneaky. But it's a good start."

She lunged at me again, throwing her fist to punch me on the side of the head. She said if she punched me in the side of the head where my ear was, I was going to be disoriented. I ducked to avoid the blow. She strikes again with her other fist but I remember the wing chun she taught me. I grab her wrist, stopping her fist just a few inches from my face and punched her in the stomach. Gasping at the blow I gave her below the gut, she lurches forward and moans in pain. That gave me the opportunity to bring up my right knee and bash her between her jaw, sending her to fall back.

She was now lying sprawled on the blue matt, moaning and blood trickling down her mouth. I gasped in shock at the sight of this. Holy shit, what did I just do to Sara? I hurt her. Oh my God, I hurt her badly.

"I'm so sorry, Sara," I said in panic. I look at Rachel who was in shock as well from my action. "Get the First Aid kit please."

She nodded before running off to the table I pointed at. She knew which one was the First Aid kit. I knelt down next Sara. Is she unconscious? Is she dead? Did I kill her? She better not be dead. Oliver is so going to have my head for this ―.

"Boo!" Sara yells out as she sat up. I yelped and stood up from her side. Rachel also squealed and even dropped the First Aid kit. The lights above us flickered on and off and sizzled, and one of them went out. Did Diggle fix the lights last week? Why did they go off like that all of the sudden? One of the answers could be water damage. It has been raining a lot over the last couple of days so that sort of explains the reason why the lights have been shortening out these days. "Oh, calm down, I'm fine. You finally broke something. I think you broke my jaw."

"I'm so sorry, Sara," I said as I help her out from the floor. She stumbles a bit until she finally found her balance and spits out blood onto the mats. Rachel made a face of disgust before handing over the First Aid kit to me. "I've had worst injuries…You did good."

"I didn't know what I was doing," I said, "I panicked."

"Adrenaline does that to you," she laughs as she snatches the kit from my hand. I do feel a bit energetic and hyperactive. My hands were shaking from recent actions. "It's usually triggered by fear or anger. It's pretty useful. You should use that when in a fight."

"Fear? Are you ever scared in a fight?" No. That can't be right. Sara Lance is the most fearless person I have ever met, aside from Oliver. What is she afraid of?

"Well, not always," she said, "I almost never get scared. But then I keep thinking of my dad and Laurel, and think what would happen when people found out who I really was and what they would do to my family. If they die, I have nothing left to fight for. If I die, who's going to take care of them? People may not fear a few things but loneliness is the greatest fear you can ever face."

I sigh. Yeah. That can be painful.

"So, fear and anger can be my enemy," I said. Sara opens up the kit and retrieves a few cotton pads. She goes to the fridge and takes out an icepack from the freezer, placing it against her cheek.

"It can also be your best friend," she said, "Try frenemies more like it."

"Is that even a word?" Rachel asks.

"No but then again people starts making up new things," Sara said, "Wow, blood tastes like iron, did you know that?"

"Did you really have to say that in front of Rachel?" I asked rhetorically. I don't want her to get scared because of this.

"She's gonna have to learn someday," Sara said, "She won't be little forever."

I sigh. I know. God, I'm acting like Donna. And I'm not even a mother. Well, not yet. But some day. I just don't want Rachel to be influenced by these things Sara and I are doing. Well, at least she doesn't know that Oliver is the Arrow. Oliver is already annoyed that I have her here in our hideout, let alone getting in trouble when she finds out about the Arrow. It's not going to be my fault if he walks in dressed up in his suit. He should know why I bring Rachel here. I'm responsible for her. At least until her case is solved and she gets adopted by a new family. Of course, who's going to adopt a little six-year-old who is being suspect of murdering her own mother? Not many people that I know of. I would adopt her. She's a great girl. The orphanage probably won't allow me though since I'm just a substitute foster parents. I need permission and records that would allow me to adopt Rachel and that can take forever. One of the problems is that if she's not adopted by the time she's eighteen, she could be sent to the streets or juvenile prison, which I think it's worse than the streets.

"Blood actually tastes like copper," Rachel suddenly said. Sara and I both looked at her in surprise. Did she really just say that? "What? I read it in a book. Scientists proved that blood tastes like copper. Look it up on Google."

Sara stared at me with wide eyes "Okay, this kid seriously needs to get out more. She's freaking me out here."

I shrugged my shoulders in response. You got to love her that way.

Oliver and Diggle soon entered the Clocktower. Diggle looked up at the ceiling to witness one of the square lights malfunctioning and the others acting a bit nuts.

"What happened to the lights?" he asked. "Didn't I fix those a week ago?"

"Worry about the lights later, Dig," Oliver said, "What I'd like to know is what happened to your face, Sara?"

Yep. I knew this was going to happen. Oliver is definitely going to have my head for this. Not only did I hit Sara, I was training without his permission. I'm dead. I'm so dead.

"Well, I was just teaching Felicity how to defend herself from bad guys," Sara said as she took a towel and threw it over her shoulder. She walked over to Oliver and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll probably teach Rachel how to fight too."

"...I think she's too young yet," I said.

"Aw," Rachel said in deception and pouted her lower lip.

"Maybe when you're ten or eleven," I said. I'm making no promises, however. Fighting is a lot of hard work and rewarded with cuts, bruises, blood and broken bones. It's not fun.

"Felicity, shouldn't you have asked me before engaging sessions with Sara," Oliver crossed his arms. I know I'd be in trouble for this.

"Felicity and I weren't engaging on anything you think were engaging on, Ollie," Sara teased, resting an elbow on my shoulder which made me feel uncomfortable, "If we were, you shouldn't be the least jealous, due to the experience you saw with me and Nyssa."

I tried very hard not to crack up in a laugh. Oh shit. Did Sara really just go there? And again, right in front of the kid. They'll be corrupting her innocence in no time.

"Felicity, no offense, but how long is Rachel going to be with us?" Oliver asked. Wow, I don't know how that couldn't have sound offensive. He just made it offensive already just asking that. And as proof, Rachel was glaring at him.

"Until today," I said. It's true though. I only have to take care of Rachel on the weekends. "I have to return her to the orphanage at 6 in the afternoon. I wish she could stay a little longer though." I gave her a smile and Rachel smiles back. "How about we get something to eat before we go?"

She nods eagerly. "Mac & Cheese?"

"Mac & Cheese," I nodded.

"Yes!" She cheered.

"First, we need to take a shower," Sara reminded me. She grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me away, "We stink."

"Felicity, I need to have a word with you," Oliver said.

"Later okay," I struggled to say as Sara kept dragging me to the showers, "When I get back from lunch, we'll talk! Promise!"

* * *

Sara's POV

"I can't believe you took us to a bar, Sara," Felicity complained when we arrived her for lunch. It's a diner/bar called Bobby's Diner.

What's the difference? Hey, they wanted to eat, this is the best place in town. Besides, I'm buying so I say where we go. Of course, there's a bar, but it's separate. This place is totally safe, I hope. There was that one incident where a guy was drunk and was making a scene by singing out loud to his ex-girlfriend who was sitting at the other side of the diner with another guy and annoying the other customers, not to mention he and the other guy got into a fight where the manager had to kick them out by force. But it wasn't a big deal. It's kid friendly.

"Oh come on," I said, "Don't be a fuss. Lots of kids have come to the bar to eat."

"How old were those kids?" Felicity asked. Rachel was holding on to her hand tightly as if afraid she'll lose her.

"Um...14 or 17," I said. Yeah, not the right answer for that question. I should have lied. But that wouldn't be right.

"Wow, I can tell how kid friendly this place is now," she said. We sat at a booth in one of the corners. The seats were made of dark brown leather and the table was polished red. Rachel sat as close to Felicity as much as possible, pressing her head against her shoulder.

Bobby's Diner is actually one of my favourite places to be, especially when I need to get away from the Arrow. This place is decorated Western cowboy style. The walls were made of dark wood. There were oil lamps attached to the walls even if they weren't really real oil lamps, just imitation. There a large TV where you can see sports and news. And there were...mounted bull heads on the walls with plastic eyes staring deep into your soul and following your every move. Okay, so this place is not very kid friendly but hey, at least it's an edible place. Besides, the bar as at the other side of the diner so it won't bother us at all.

"They serve really good food in here though," I said, "They even make Mac & Cheese here. That's something Rachel would like, would you?" I asked.

"I'll be the judge of that," Rachel said. Wow. This kid is a stubborn meta. I like her. But I can tell that Felicity doesn't know that Rachel is a meta. It's just an obvious thing how normal Felicity is acting around Rachel instead of being a bit freaked out about it. I'm trying to act normal but I'm still a bit freaked out about it.

"I think she just likes my home-made macaronis better," Felicity said, "I don't know why. She'll give it a try though. Won't you Rachel?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod. She looks a bit odd right now. Well, she is always odd but something does not feel right about her. I noticed a few of her fingers shaking. How come?

We ordered our food. I ordered fried cow tongue with French fries and hot dipping sauce. Felicity ordered a bacon cheeseburger and Rachel ordered Mac & Cheese. She's gonna love the macaroni here, I hope. I don't know why Felicity like bacon cheeseburger and never gets fat. What is it that makes her enjoy junk food and not get fat? God. She needs to give me some tips. I only eat junk food once a week. This is my protein food. Cow tongue, frog legs and Rocky Mountain oysters which by the way are not really oysters. It's just another for...fried bull testicles. It could be worse, a lot worse.

When they first tried the food, they nodded their heads and smiled in approval.

"It's good," Rachel said as she was eating her Mac & Cheese. Felicity gave her a thumbs up.

"It's really tasty," Felicity muffled with her mouth full and smiled at me.

"Told ya guys," I said proudly. Told them they would like it. But I bet they won't admit it's better than Big Belly Burgers or the home-made macaroni. They're not going to admit. "Okay, so Felicity, tomorrow after work, we're going to try using the salmon ladder."

"Hmm, I've never actually tried the salmon ladder before," she said in thought, "I always saw Oliver do it."

"It could help you develop your climbing and jumping skills," I tell her. I do the salmon ladder all the time. It hurts my muscles a bit but it helps when you need strength to climb and by the things I've seen, Felicity needs a lot of work, a _lot_ of work.

"What's a salmon ladder?" Rachel asks.

"...It's like a ladder," Felicity explained, "Except that it has one bar...and you have to jump to climb to the top."

Yeah, that's pretty much what the salmon ladder is.

"Sounds hard," Rachel said. I laughed. Wait till she sees Felicity do it. It's a nightmare. My arms are still sore from yesterday's salmon ladder session. "Do I really have to go back to the orphanage, Felicity?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry about Rachel," Felicity apologizes sorrowfully, "I really do want you to stay longer but you know the rules. If I can't follow the rules, they won't let you with me on the weekends anymore."

"Aw man," she complained.

"Hey, but maybe on Friday, you and eye can go see a movie," Felicity said.

"I don't know if I like movies."

"Come on, it will be fun."

"I guess so."

Felicity looks at me and asks if I would like to go with them to see a movie on Friday. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not so big on movies anymore. Just not my thing since becoming the Canary. But maybe I could go as long as Felicity doesn't make me watch those kiddie ass movies that sucks balls all the time. So, I clearly said yes.

"What do you think, Rachel, you want Sara to tag along with us?" she asked. But Rachel was looking at her. She was looking to the right and her eyes were wide. What is she looking at? And why is she shaking so badly? "Rachel, are you listening?" Felicity shook her shoulders but she still didn't respond. "Rachel Angela Roth, look at me when I'm talking to you. What are you looking at-?" Felicity suddenly froze in her words when she followed Rachel's gaze. What _are_ they looking at?

I followed their gaze as well only to see that it was her father Colton Smoak. Oh motherfucking shit. Oh fuck. How is he here? Why is he here instead of being in jail? Didn't my dad arrest him yesterday? Why the fuck is he here?

He was sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand, looking straight at us as if we were prey. Oh shit. He's stalking us. No. He's stalking Felicity, again. Motherfucker.

"I want to leave now, Sara," Felicity mumbled in fear, holding Rachel close to her.

"Hide in the bathroom with Rachel," I whispered to her, "I'll get rid of him."

"How?"

"I'm the Canary. I'll figure something out. Go, go, go."

Felicity immediately takes Rachel, carrying her in her arms like a baby toddler, and runs to the bathroom down the hallway and out of Colton's sight. I'll take care of this douche-bag. I stood off from the booth Felicity and I were sitting, pulling down the edge of blouse, and approached the man that was sitting at the bar. He gave me a smirk, something that would make someone like me want to throw up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"It's a public place," he said, raising his glass, "It's a free country."

"I don't know if I remember correctly but I know that Felicity had a restraining order against you," I said, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at him.

"Actually, her mother was the one who put on the restraining order. Of course, it was only temporary. It became invalid after ten years."

What? Okay, I did not see that coming. I did not know the restraining order was temporary. Also, why didn't my dad call me to tell me? I could have warned Felicity and by the looks of it, Felicity is not happy to find out about her father still out here. Did Oliver knew about this? Because if he does, Felicity is going to be super pissed.

"I hear this is the best place to get a drink in this city," he says, "Do you want some?"

"Pass," I said sternly, "I think you should leave."

"Sorry, but I think I have every right to be here," he said. I know. It's a public place. But he's not wanted here.

"Sorry to say this, but Felicity doesn't really want you here," I said.

"Well, I am her father so I have every right to see her."

"She doesn't want anything to do with you."

"She looks a lot like her mother. Did she ever mentioned Evelyn to you?" he said. Yeah, she did. "She is so much like her, blonde and pretty. Of course, she had black hair. She dyed it. She looks more like her mother than she was before, including that pretty body of her. She ended having her mother's body. I can remember Evelyn's pretty body... especially when fucking her."

With that, I immediately bashed the bastard's head against the counter, took the glass from his hand and shattered it against the back of his head. He didn't fall unconscious though. He simply chuckled as if this was funny. I grabbed him by the collar and forced him to face him. Unfortunately, the bartender tried to stop me.

"Hey, you can't -."

" _Shut up!_ " I snapped and he immediately backed off. Good. I don't want him to get involved. This is none of his business. I look at the bastard straight in the eye. "You listen to me," I hiss at him, "You come near Felicity again and I will make sure that fucking cock of yours gets cut clean off. Do we have an understanding?"

He simply grins at me and chuckles. "You know this won't be the last time you'll see me. You'll regret it."

"Get the fuck out of here," I said, pulling him to a stand and pushing him away. He soon leaves the diner but with a mischief grin on his face. This is not the last of him unfortunately. He'll be back.

"Is he gone?" I suddenly heard Rachel ask.

I turn around to see Felicity and Rachel peeking from the hallway, Felicity still holding the little girl in her arms.

"Yep, he's gone."

* * *

 **Okay guys, sorry if this chapter is a little short and took me a longer than it should but finally got it done. I have been taking awhile because I'm writing an original story apart so it takes longer to write both stories. But I promise that I will get another chapter ready when I can. Anyways, as you can see, the flickering lights showed that Rachel is beginning to expose a bit of her powers. Now that Felicity knows that her father is set free, she is not going to be happy with neither Captain Lance or Oliver. As for Slade, we'll be seeing him stalking Felicity much to her annoyance. And as for Sara, she's going to regret confronting Colton. Thanks for reading Black Smoak. Comment down below and I promise that more is gonna come out and the next chapter will be better than this one. Have a happy Holidays**


	17. Chapter 17: Coffee of Death

**Chapter 17: Coffee**

Oliver's POV

"My father was released from police custody, Oliver, why the hell didn't you tell me?" I heard Felicity shout as she entered the Clocktower. She did not look happy. She looked pissed. I knew she would be pissed after finding out the SCPD let Colton Smoak go.

"Where's Sara?" I asked.

"Seriously? That is the first thing you can say?" she snapped, " _Where's Sara?_ Sara is downstairs keeping an eye on Rachel while you and I have a chat because I don't want her up here while I'm talking to you in a very _loud_ voice!"

"Listen, Felicity, I tried to tell you about Colton -." I tried to explain things to her. I wanted to call her by phone to tell her but I thought it would have been easier to do it in person. I think that was the worst mistake I ever made. I should have called her the moment Captain Lance called _me_ to tell me the bad news.

"When?"

"Today," I said.

"Don't you think it was better to simply tell me by phone at the very moment you knew my father was still loose?" she asked, "…How did this happen? Why did they let him go?"

"They say they didn't have enough evidence to prove him guilty of attacking you," I said. I don't know who should I be scare of now. Slade? Malcolm Merlyn? Captain Lance? Colton Smoak? Or Felicity?

"I have bruises on my neck for crying out loud!" she hissed in anger.

"Look I'm sorry, Fel―."

"I'm calling Captain Lance right now," she said as she stomped away, "This cannot be happening. This can't be happening."

Well, there goes my chance of explaining things to her. She's definitely pissed at me and at Captain Lance.

"Told you should have said something earlier," Diggle kept saying.

"Shut up, Dig," I said.

"Well, while you get things straight with Felicity," he trailed, "I am going to take a nap. I am beat."

* * *

Diggle's POV

Lyla's needed me back at home. She said she had a surprise for me. I don't know what it is though. I told her I'd be back home in an hour or so. Of course, that was just some lame excuse for me to take a rest. I was sleeping on Felicity's computer desk. Felicity will not be happy to see me sleeping on her computer desk. She already has enough trouble, let alone letting her find me sleeping on her desk. But if I could just rest for at least five minutes.

"John." I heard Lyla's voice calling me. I open my eyes.

We were in a clinic. Lyla was reclined back in a chair, wearing a hospital gown. There was a monitor next to her, showing nothing but black and white. And there was a doctor with a mask on his face, probably to avoid diseases. What are we doing here? One moment, I was sleeping on Felicity's computer, next thing I know, I'm at a clinic with my ex-wife. Why am I here? How did I get here?

"Are you okay?" Lyla asked.

"...Um, yeah," I said.

"Congratulations, Mr. Diggle," the doctor said, "Your baby is healthy."

What? I'm confused. What the hell is going on? "Lyla, are you pregnant?"

"Don't act so surprised, John," she said with a chuckle, "I've already told you I was pregnant."

"You did?"

"Of course," she said, "Don't you remember?"

Let's be real guys, I don't remember her telling me she was pregnant. In fact, she didn't tell me at all. Is that the surprise Lyla wanted to tell me back at home? Is that why she wanted me back at home? To tell me she was pregnant?

"You guys wanted to know about the sex," the doctor said and I look at the monitor that was now showing a silhouette shape of a baby curled up in a fetal position. "It's a girl."

Seeing the baby there in the monitor, it no longer made me feel confused. It was now making me happy. I smiled at the baby in the monitor. That's really my baby. It's my kid. And it's a girl. Most fathers would prefer if their kids were boys so they can teach them male stuff like football and wouldn't have to worry about dating which is something I find a bit unfair and sexist if you ask me. She's beautiful. I'm happy that I'm going to be a father, I just wish Lyla had told me first.

Lyla suddenly began to cry out in pain and the monitor began to go crazy, making load beeping sounds.

"What's going on!?" I asked in panic. Something bad is happening to the baby and it's also hurting Lyla.

"Ah, it hurts!" she cried out.

"Do something, please!" I begged the doctor. He had to something. He can't just stand there while my ex-wife is probably losing the baby.

"Do not worry, sir, I have something that will help the pain," he said.

Next thing I know, he took out a scalpel and began to stab Lyla on her swollen belly. I tried to stop but it was already too late. I only managed to force the scalpel from his hands. It was all bloody just like the doctor. "No, Lyla!" I yelled. She began to cough up blood as she was dying. Her belly had been stabbed several times, almost splitting it in half and I could see the hand of an infant sticking out of opening "No!"

I look at the doctor. When he removed his mask, it revealed the face of Felicity's father, Colton Smoak. He was laughing menacingly. He killed her. He killed Lyla. He killed my daughter. And now he was charging at me again. No! No!

"Diggle!"

I open my eyes again even if I don't remember closing them. I was now sitting up from Felicity's desk, gasping in and almost falling from the chair I was sitting on. When I looked around, I was still in the Clocktower and Felicity was standing next to me, looking at me with a shocked and terrified expression. I was asleep. It was just a dream. It was just a dream. No, it can't be a dream. It felt so real. Colton was stabbing my ex-wife. He was killing her and the baby. Lyla is pregnant. I need to go back home and check on her right now.

"Are you okay?" Felicity asked, "You look like you saw a ghost. What happened?"

I can't tell Felicity about what I saw in my nightmare. I can't tell her I saw her father in my nightmare. She'll get more hysterical than she is now. Of course, she looks calm now after she blew off steam with the training equipment. Sara wasn't supervising her but Felicity was doing a good job beating the heck out of the dummy Sara uses for _wing chun_ (or was it _win chung_ ). Felicity didn't even dress for training. She went directly. She looked funny training in her working clothes.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Felicity," I said as I stood up from the chair.

"Are you sure?" she asked, "You don't look okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied, "I just hadn't slept well these days." I hated lying to Felicity. Of course, everyone lies. But Felicity's lies are a little less.

"You too?" she said and smiled at me softly, "Looks like everyone hasn't been sleeping well these days. Stress with work and bad guys makes people insomniac. Scientifically speaking, the lack of sleep can make a person go cray-cray."

"Yeah, looks like everyone's going nuts, especially with..."

"...It's okay if you want to say it, Dig," she said, "I really don't mind. I know that you guys are working hard to make sure my father's behind bars."

"You're family now, Felicity, remember that," I said, "We'll do anything for you."

"I -I know," she stammered, "I just think maybe you guys should take it easy. My dad likes making people go nuts. He gave the police back at Las Vegas a hard time once and I don't want him giving you guys a hard time either...Besides, I'm going to take care of it so you guys won't have to worry about him. I spoke to Detective Lance and we agreed he would convince the chief of police to talk to the judge to have a court trial so I can have permission to refile up the temporary restraining order against my father with the little evidence they have of harassment which they will use in court even if it's not enough evidence to convict him of attempt of murder but it's enough to hold him as a suspect and possible threat to my life. I also hired my aunt's lawyer to help. He's...a decent guy."

"Felicity, listen, I know that you think you can handle everything on your own, but sometimes, not everything can be handled that way," I warned her. She nodded in agreement.

"I know and I love you guys for that," she said, "...I just don't want to be the kind of girl that needs rescuing or that needs to depend on a man to protect her. I don't want to be the damsel in distress kind of girl, you know?"

"I get that. Just try to be careful," I tell her. She nods again. Felicity is like having a little sister and I really hate to see her get hurt.

I tell her I'd be going back home to Lyla. She would lock up the Tower once I'm gone. I didn't want to leave her alone but she insisted.

I hurried home, afraid of finding my ex-wife's body on the floor with a fetus next to her. I was basically running. When I got home, I noticed the door open. No. No. No. No. No. I barge through the door and call out her name.

"Lyla! Lyla!"

"John!" she shouts and I run to the kitchen.

She was carrying two brown paper bags of groceries on the crook of her elbows. She was staring at me in shock and confusion when I entered the kitchen hysterically. She was looking at me as if I was going crazy She's okay. She's alive. She's not dead. Thank God.

"What's with all the screaming?" she asked angrily, "Do you want the neighbours to call the police on us?"

"I, I'm sorry," I apologized. Felicity's right. The lack of sleep makes you go crazy. "I just saw the door open and thought someone broke into the apartment. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, "I'm exhausted though because I had to bring the groceries up all by myself. I tried to call you so you can help me but it seems you were busy helping Oliver. I'm making dinner for us both."

Remembering the horrible nightmare I had, I hugged Lyla tightly. I'm so happy she's alive.

"John, what's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I'm just glad you're okay," I said.

"John, I'm fine," she said, "Can you please let go so I can start cooking dinner?"

"...Lyla, are you pregnant?" I asked. I didn't want to ask that at first, thinking she might get angry with the question. I asked her either way. I needed to know if it was true.

"Who told you I was pregnant?" she asked, pushing me back and looking at me straight in the eyes.

"Is it true?" I asked again.

"...Yes," she sighed, "Yes, John, I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father. And it's a girl."

* * *

Felicity's POV

"Do you really think we can get another court order and have the judge file us a new restraining order by the end of the week, Matt?" I asked through my phone as I was heading back to my apartment after dropping Rachel back at the orphanage at six. Sara gave me a ride back to my apartment. She wanted to make sure I was okay but I assure her I was fine and asked her to go home which she did. I was having a conversation with my lawyer, Matt Murdock. He's been working for my aunt when she was dealing with a stalker three years ago. He's blind but he's an awesome lawyer, probably one of the best I have ever known. Some people call him the _lie detector_ because even though he can't see, he can hear and know when someone is lying to him.

" _It's gonna be a bit difficult, knowing that the judge has other cases to work with this week and also I'm not one of his favourites for being a smartass_ ," he said, " _But I'll see what I can do to squeeze you in. If we're lucky, we might not only get a restraining order but we might also get a full trial to put the bastard's bony ass back into prison_."

"Let's hope you can," I said as I am finally stopping at my front door, "I have full faith in you."

" _Have I ever let you down before, Felicity?_ "

"…We'll talk about that later, okay?" I said. He did lose a car where Donna got sued after crashing a car into her neighbour's fence and had to pay 5,000 dollars for repairs. "Have a good night as well as the person sleeping next to you."

" _How would you know someone is sleeping next to me?_ " he asked as if he had been caught.

"Because I know you too well. Good night." Then I hang up the phone.

I was scouring through my purse in search for my keys. But I forgot that I did not have my keys with me. The SCPD probably has my keys along with my car that is now part of the investigation along with the scissors I used to cut my father's face and some of my things I intended to bring from my old job which where I recently quit. Great. I don't have my keys and I have no way to enter my home. I'm going to have to ask Mrs. Fernandez to let me borrow the key she has that opens every apartment in this building, if she allows it; she doesn't like borrowing keys to just anyone.

I feel a poke on my shoulder and I turn around with a startled gasp. Luckily, it wasn't my father _or_ Slade. It was just Klarion, Mrs. Fernandez's son. Oh thank God.

Klarion Fernandez. He studies at Starling City University where he's studying to be an IT expert like me. He's only twenty-one. He has his own apartment and car. But he still comes here to take a look and see if his mother is okay. He's tall and lanky with ruffled black hair and wears round-framed glasses. He always wears pleated shirts. He's a bit nerdy but I always thought he was humorous.

I'm glad that it was Klarion and not Slade. I already had enough of looking at Slade. I appreciate what he did for me at the parking lot but I'm still a bit ticked off about what I saw at the party. I just don't feel comfortable looking at him without remembering about what happened that night. It's still surprises me why Klarion is here at this late hour. I thought he would be studying for finals this week. He only visited his mother on the weekends. Even if it is Sunday, he wouldn't come at this hour.

"Klarion, you scare me half to death," I sigh in relief.

"Sorry, Felicity, didn't mean to scare you like that," he apologized, "I've heard you had a rough week. They said something about you being in a coma."

"Yeah," I said. Thanks a lot you stupid news media. "But it was a shock. I'm completely fine. Just a bit shaken up is all. So, what are you doing here at this late hour?"

"Well, I'm here to clear out a few things from my mom's apartment," he said.

"You're helping your mom? That's good," I said, "How is she?"

Klarion frowned at me. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" I was confused.

"…My mom died."

What? Mrs. Fernandez died? How? When did this happen?

"She died?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know she died," I said, shaking my head in disbelief, "Do you know what happened?"

"They say she died of a heart attack," he said, "A neighbour came to her apartment and found the door open. He let himself to see if my mom is all right. She was lying on the couch with groceries next to her so he thought she fell asleep. But then he tried waking her up to find out she was dead."

"Oh my God," I gasped. I can't believe it. Mrs. Fernandez is actually dead. "What did the doctors said?"

"Well, they say she was asleep when she suffered the heart attack so she probably didn't know she was suffering a stroke."

"Oh God, Klarion, I'm so sorry to hear that," I said and immediately embraced Klarion in comfort as a payment of my respects. I didn't know Mrs. Fernandez suffered a heart attack. No one told me anything. Klarion says that the funeral and burial was yesterday. I didn't even get an invitation. Of course, I had a lot of things in my head and didn't check my mailbox in days. I probably did get an invitation but didn't bother looking into the mailbox. What kind of neighbour am I? "What are you going to do now?" With Mrs. Fernandez dead, who's going to be in charge of the apartment buildings? Who is going to collect the monthly rent or keep weirdos away from this place?

"Well, since my mom is dead, someone's got to take care of this place," he said, "So, I'm clearing out some of her stuff and moving in."

"So, you're in charge of the building now? What about _your_ apartment? And your studies?" I asked with arms crossed.

"My apartment is a piece of shit anyways," he scoffs, "Couples are banging next door and you can hear them all night long. Also, college is just twelve minutes away." If you can cut off traffic, that is. But there's still one question. Who's going to take care ―?

"Rusty!" I said when I saw him walking between us. He stops to rub his head against my legs and purrs.

"Looks like you found my mom's cat," Klarion says, "She's kind of a catlady though neighbours complained about calling the police when she was cat hoarding the apartment. She was lucky she got to keep Rusty. I wanted to name him Tweekl but mom liked Rusty better."

"I think Rusty suits him," I said as I picked him up in my arms and scratch him behind the ears, and he purrs again in contentment. "What about him? Are you going to take care of Rusty?"

"I was actually going to take him to a shelter," he said. What? To shelter?

"No," I objected, "Don't take Rusty to a shelter. They'll put him to sleep there."

"Listen, I know that my mom really loved Rusty. I love him too, but I have a lot of studies and I can't find my free time to take care of my mom's cat."

"How about _I_ take care of Rusty for you?" I proposed.

"You taking care of Rusty?" he asks unsure.

"Of course," I said, "I mean, Rusty knows me more than anyone else in this building and I've already did catsitting before while your mom was not home so I wouldn't mind having Rusty in my house for a little while. Wouldn't you, Rusty?" He responded by licking my chin and meowing. Klarion soon sighed in defeat.

"All right then," he said, "I'm guessing it won't hurt anyone. Of course, I'm going to have to give you my mom's list of how to take care of him."

"I've already received her list like ten times," I said, accidentally reminding him that his mom had Alzheimer, "I think I know how to take care of the cat."

"Okay then," he said, "I'll see you around then? You know, to check in to see how things are going with you and Rusty, and also collect the rent?"

"Sure," I nodded, "Good night, Klarion ― Oh wait, I almost forgot. I can't find my apartment keys. Do you think you can let me in with the spares?"

"Sure," he said. He reaches for behind my ear and when he retreats his hand, he showed the jingling keys. That's another thing I admired about Klarion. He always liked playing magic tricks on people like making cups disappear or pulling coins from behind people's ears. This time he pulled out the spare keys. With the spare keys, he unlocks the door to my apartment.

"Thanks. Good night." I entered my apartment and closed the door behind me, locking it tightly.

I took a shower and made a cup of hot cocoa to calm my nerves down after my encounter with my father. I sat on the sofa with Rusty sleeping on my lap while I was watching a cooking channel called _Chopped_ on TV. I soon began to cry in quiet sobs. Not only because my father was still roaming free in Starling City but because of Mrs. Fernandez's death. I wish I had known. I would have been there for her. My sobs awoke Rusty and he meowed before rubbing to my face again.

 **(We interrupt this story for a question: why the hell are Felicity's friends' supervillains? I mean, Jerome Valeska is her childhood friend and of course he's the Joker. Oswald Cobblepot (also known as the Penguin) is also a friend she met in college. And now we got Klarion who is obviously the Witch Boy from** _ **Young Justice**_ **, and is her neighbour's son. Oh my God. The girl's a super-magnet for supervillains. I mean, she gets captured by Count Vertigo, Slade, Damian Darkh and almost got captured by the Doll Maker. Guys, I'm telling you, she's a supervillain magnet. Anyone agree with me? Yes? No? Let me know in the comments.)**

* * *

Slade's POV

I looked upon the city through the glass windows of my office. You could hear ambulance sirens wailing faintly. The second ambulance this week. Crime and accidents are still at bay even with the Arrow looking after the city. The more the Arrow keeps saving lives, the more enemies he makes. I want to see his entire world crumble into ashes before eliminating him from existence along with everything and everyone he loves, even if that includes Felicity Smoak.

I do not wish to do no harm to her. Enough harm has been done to her already. But I am afraid I have no choice. She is the only thing that keeps the team up float. Without her, the Arrow will lose its balance. She needs to be dealt with soon. I look down at my drink. Australian rum, the same kind I found on the island of Lian Yu before attacking Ivo's ship. I sigh before taking another gulp and returned to sit at the desk, turning my back to it and continued to the drink in my hand. I need at least five bottle of it to get drunk. I can never get drunk no matter how much I try no thanks to the Mirakuru. It barely gets me close to sober. Of course, it does make my body warm. The more I keep drinking, the more I keep thinking about Felicity.

How her lips quivered. How her hands trembled while holding the bloody scissors, her hair tousled from the struggle and the wild look in those beautiful eyes of hers. The way she defended herself from her father. I have held her face, her skin soft and smooth. My thoughts seem perverted but it's just a feeling I have towards her. I do not love her. I want her just as dead as I want Oliver to be but I want to have her for myself as well. To have her in my possession and not allow anyone touch her but me, just me.

I hear the window creaking open. Someone is entering the office and intruding Queens Consolidated. If only they knew I was here.

"You have ten seconds to leave before I cut out your throat box," I threatened in a rasp.

"What are you playing at Slade?" It was Sara Lance, Oliver Queen's blonde whore, the very reason why Shado died. Oliver chose Sara over her. I should probably kill Sara first. Maybe killing would be a lot better than killing Felicity. Still, I played along.

"What play, Miss Lance?" I asked.

"So it's _Miss Lance_ now?" she said. I turn to face her and gave her a smug look. She was not wearing her costume or mask. She was just wearing a leather jacket. "What happened to _Sara_ or _whore_?"

"I still believe you're a whore," I said quite bluntly.

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Watch it!" she snapped at me, "Listen, I don't know nor do I care what sort of shitty game you're playing at but I'm warning you to stay away from Felicity. She already has enough problems as it is and you're just making it even worse with your schemes against Oliver."

"The business I have with Felicity is none of your concern," I said, "Once I deal with her, I will deal with you later."

"Oh, cut the crap, Slade. You know that I am not referring to you wanting to kill her to hurt Oliver which both of us know that a load of bullshit."

"Then what exact game do you believe I am playing at, Miss Lance?" I asked, frowning at her in confusion.

"You know what I mean," she smirked, "After she woke up from the come, she received an anonymous gift of red roses. When she got attacked by her father, you decided to play hero and sucker-punched the psycho in the face. Also, we also found a white rose next to her bed at the same moment you were there. And to top it all that, I hacked into my father's computer and noticed that he wants you to keep an eye her."

"Hmm. Maybe I just want to get close enough to kill her," I said but even I didn't believe it.

"Doubt it," she said, "No matter how much you try, you will always end up in the same place. You try to deny it but it always ends up the same. Deep down inside, you don't want to kill her. You just want to have her all to yourself. In fact, if I didn't know you, Slade, I think you like her."

I hate to admit it, I do want Felicity all to myself, to hurt her, to torture her and perhaps hear her scream for mercy. Perhaps she will become of good use as my own little plaything, to entertain me when I become bored. But _liking_ is such a big word. But I do not hate her either. I simply hate Oliver and his fucking whore.

"And why do you want me to stay away from Felicity if you know I might not want to kill her?" I asked.

"Felicity is scared, Slade." She should be afraid of me. "She is afraid of her own father. She can't even sleep with the thought of her father trying to kill her. We even encountered him at the bar which of course she had to hide in the bathroom while I had his ass kicked out, and I don't know why I'm even telling you this. She's already terrified enough so I don't want you scaring her more than she is now."

"I'm not trying to scare her though," I said, "I am simply warning her that no matter her current situation, I will still be having a careful watch on her and approach with every chance I have."

"…You're an idiot," she hissed, "Felicity is a good girl. She's probably the greatest person you can ever meet, even when she tends to babble a lot, and you're treating her like shit. She doesn't deserve that, you know."

"All friends of Oliver Queen are enemies to me. And I don't care," I said before taking another sip.

"Of course you don't," she said, "You never cared about anyone but yourself. She threw up, you know."

I did see her vomit outside the Merlyn Mansion when she left the party. She was disgusted seeing me with Isabel. That was entirely my fault. It was not my intention for her to see all of that. I should have kept the door locked. But I do not know how Sara was able to obtain this information, unless Felicity told her this.

"She told me about what was going on between you and you know," she said, "I don't think either of us care what you do but, I doubt psychiatry is going to erase whatever shit you were engaging in the mansion."

"I do trust that none of this conversation escapes these walls or I would have no choice but to kill you and your friend," I said.

"No," she said, "We're not even talking about what you did, we're talking about Felicity here."

"Of course we are, but here's the thing, I'm not staying away from her," I said as a final decision. This bitch will not forbid me from getting my way of having her in my possession. Felicity Smoak is mine, all mine. She belongs to me and no one else.

"You're playing with fire, Slade, and one day, you're going to get burned," she said.

Just when things couldn't get even more awkward, Isabel enters my office and is a bit angry and at the same time puzzled at the presence of Sara Lance. Well then, this seems to be very uncomfortable for all three of us.

"What is she doing here?" Isabel snapped. With that, Sara heads for the open window she came in from. Question, how on earth did she come up here?

"Okay then, I'm out. Peace!" she says before doing a backflip out the window, plummeting down the building. Isabel and I went over to see if she has fallen to her death. She was gone. No body on concrete. I noticed her using a glider to fly away. Interesting.

"I wonder if I can get one of those," Isabel said.

"You're afraid of heights," I said plainly before returning to my desk again.

"What did she want?" Isabel asked.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about," I said.

* * *

Felicity's POV

The next morning, I left my apartment to go back to the IT Department in hopes that they will assigned me to another company to work with. I have fed Rusty first with warm milk. Rusty does not like cold milk. He will not drink it cold. He doesn't like canned cat food either. I cooked up a few fish fillets, peeled off the skins and served them to him. The minimum amount I am allowed to feed him is three, no more and no less. Mrs. Fernandez's orders were very strict on feeding Rusty. It's odd. He's a cat but is always treated like a king. Perhaps it is the reason why Klarion refused to take care of him, for how spoiled he was.

"Be a good boy, Rusty," I told him before leaving the apartment. I'm planning to go to the police station afterwards to ask for my keys, "and please don't wander off again." He only responded me with a meow.

The Department accepted my return but they have already given my old desk to a new employee. They had to put me in another desk. It's not as spacious as my old desk but at least it has a view of the city. The only disadvantage is that I don't have my equipment. I don't have my Q-Pad with me. In fact, all the stuff I had in the box when I quit Queens Consolidated are all in the custody of the SCPD for investigation. Shit. How am I supposed to work without my stuff? Well, at least I have my laptop with me. I can probably get something done around here. I already called Detective Lance and demanded him to return my stuff immediately. He said he would return my things in a day or two. He better. I'm actually glad to be back in the IT Department. I was getting tired of being an EA of Queens Consolidated, copying files, attending calls, arranging meetings and fetching coffee like a dog fetching the newspaper.

I came in wearing my usual clothes: pale pink buttoned blouse, grey pencil skirt and black high heels. I didn't wear my usual ponytail. I let my hair down today. Some of my co-workers said I looked different with my hair down. I feel different.

It has been only two hours since I've returned to the IT Department when one of my co-workers, Jimmy, approached my desk. Jimmy was always a bit of chubby and wearing a white shirt with a red tie and always has a stain or two on his shirt. "Um, Felicity, someone is here to talk to you. It's a client, I think. He says it's urgent and wants to see you immediately."

It seems that Oliver needs help again. Robbers were trying to break into Starling City bank again and he needs me to locate their hideout. "Tell the client I'll be there in five minutes."

"Yeah, well about that ―."

"Miss Smoak."

I stopped cold when I recognized his voice next the office. Oh God. Fuck me. What is he doing here? Why the hell can't he just leave me alone? Can't he see I don't want anything to do with him? I look up from my work, and there he was, peering through the middle of the doorway. He looked at me with a soft smile. I did not smile, however. I don't want him here. He should know that right now. Why is he here?

"Mr. Wilson?"

"Hmm," he walked into the office without authorization. I should probably call security to have him escorted out. In fact, I prefer if they'd just taze him. "So this is where you work? It's a bit cramp but very sufficient. I imagined it to be a bit bigger."

"Jimmy, can you leave us?" I asked. Jimmy nodded before leaving my office and leaving me along with Slade. I slowly stood up from behind my desk and padded down my pencil skirt. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see you," he said, "I wanted to make sure you were feeling better."

"Well, thank you and as you can see, I'm fine," I said bitterly, "Now that we got that out of the way, you can leave."

"Well," he said, "I was hoping that you and I could talk over coffee if you don't mind."

"I actually do mind so the answer is _no_ ," I said plainly and politely.

"I understand that I am the last person you wish to see, Miss Smoak," he said. Oh Jeez, how can he tell? And this is me thinking sarcastically. "but unfortunately, we have business to discuss and rather do it in a rather more suitable place."

"Why not discuss it here? And why not call me instead?" I asked.

"Well, to answer your second question," he trailed off, "You erased me from your Contact List."

Oh, yeah, I remember that now. I did that at my apartment last night after drinking hot cocoa and a few glasses of wine. Okay, maybe I drank the entire bottle of wine and ended a bit drunk. I was giggling to myself for a while. I was searching through my phone only to find Slade in my Contact List. I was planning on prank calling him. Of course, I wasn't that drunk and I knew I'd be in big trouble if I prank-call him. So I decided to delete him from my contact list before dozing off into a dreamless sleep. I pursed my lips at the thought of it.

"To answer your first question, there are too many curious ears around," he said.

"…I just don't trust you," I said. And I will never will.

"Then don't," he said, "But I do wish for you to hear me at least once. If not, you do not have to see me ever again."

I roll my eyes but finally sigh in defeat. God. I definitely need therapy after this shit. Damn it.

* * *

Third Person's POV

Oliver and Sara lay on the bed, morning light bathing over them through the window of his small apartment. Oliver lay naked entangled in the sheets while Sara wore his shirt and her black panties. They were exhausted after having their little fun from last night. Oliver sometimes likes to take the upper hand in bed but when it comes to sex, Sara was in charge. She couldn't sleep last night though. Ever since I confronted Colton Smoak, Felicity's father, I'm beginning to feel paranoid. Everywhere I go somewhere, I feel like I'm being watched. And whenever I sleep, I have nightmares. Bad ones. And when I wake up, I end up with scratches, bruises and light bite-marks marring my skin. Now I know how Felicity feels.

Oliver held me close to him, his arm around my shoulder and my head resting on his chest. He kept exhaling loudly. I would trace every scar he had on his chest and abdominal, and count every one of them to pass the time.

"You do know I love you, right?" Ollie says.

"Hmm," I hummed. Oliver probably says that to every girl he sleeps well. Helena. Laurel. Me. I'll believe it when I see it.

"You don't believe me?" he furrowed his brow.

"It's not that I don't believe you…No, that's actually it. Look, Ollie, I know that you probably love me or not love me, I'm just not ready for the whole 'I love you' answer," I said, "If I want to say I love you, I will say it when I really mean it or when there's a ring on my finger. I know that it will happen one day. I want a husband and children. But right, we have a lot of things going on with Slade and Felicity's dad."

"I talked to Captain Lance," he said, "They're going to have guards watching and of course, as the Arrow, I'm going to help out every way I can."

"You know you can't protect her forever," Sara said, "One chance Colton gets and it's bye-bye Felicity Smoak. She needs to learn to fight back, not just simply sit her ass around waiting for you to save her. That's not her."

"This Felicity is not her either," Oliver said, brushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Oh, and what kind of Felicity do you want her to be?" she asked almost offended by what Oliver was saying. Is he really that sexist? Does he really prefer Felicity sitting behind the computers and coordinating search instead of kicking bad guy ass like she does?

"I just want her to be safe from both Slade and her father," he said.

"So do I," she said, "She's my friend. And that's why I'm teaching her how to fight, something that you won't do." I heard that Diggle was once training Felicity to defend herself but that was only for a little while.

"Can't we just enjoy our moment alone and forget all our issues for a few hours?" he groans.

 _God, the nerve of some men_ , she thought as she fell back on the bed.

"I'm worried about her, Oliver. Something's not right. Colton Smoak? He's some kind of psycho. I've seen a lot of psychos in my day but this one takes the cake," she said, looking up at the fan ceiling that was spinning above them. "I have this strange feeling that he might not be normal."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Do you remember Rachel?" Sara asked. "The little girl Felicity keeps taking care of? I think she's a metahuman. You know, like Barry Allen and now Felicity."

"How would you know?"

"When I scared Felicity, the kid got scared too and the lights began to flicker. At the hospital, there was this girl Rachel was talking to. She had a heart tumor and once the doctors came in for a check-up, there was no tumor. And don't say that's a coincidence."

"Look. I'll be honest, I don't really like that kid. I'm not saying that I don't like kids, I just don't like _that_ kid. I'm not saying that you're right. I'm not saying that she may or may not be a metahuman. I'm just saying that she can be dangerous. I mean, do you know why she's in the orphanage and why they're not letting anyone adopt her?"

"I heard she had an issue where she was found in an alleyway next to her mother's corpse," she said. Felicity already told her those things while Rachel wasn't listening. I don't think talking about the subject makes her comfortable.

"She was covered in blood and her mom was gutted," Oliver said, "Doesn't that sound weird to you?"

"I know that she seems scary but I think that Rachel is not that bad of a kid. Nobody knows what happened. We should give her the benefit of the doubt. We'll see what happens. Who knows, maybe she's innocent."

"I don't know. We'll see…" Oliver soon gets out of bed naked, his butt exposed and his junk hanging around. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Yeah, you stink," she mocked him as he headed for the bathroom, "I'm going to take a quick nap. I'm exhausted."

"You've been tired these days," he called out from inside of the bathroom.

"Yeah, I have not slept in three days," Sara said. But that's calling the kettle black since he hasn't been sleeping either.

"I got sleeping pills on the nightstand," he said, "You can take some if you like."

"You taking drugs?" Sara arched her eyebrow, "I thought vigilantes were supposed to give an example and not take drugs."

"Yeah, well, I don't get much sleep either when being a vigilante so I need them," he says.

Sara looks to her right to find the pills on the nightstand. She needs sleep and being the Canary was not helping. She took the pills from the nightstand and looked upon them. They were red and yellow. She sighs before putting them in her mouth and swallowed them without a glass of water. She falls back onto the bed again and closed her eyes.

When she opened them, she felt different. She didn't feel very well. She felt heavy. She sat up from the bed, only she was not on the bed anymore. She was lying on the ground covered in autumn leaves. It was odd since they were in the middle of summer. Surrounding her, there were a bunch of tombstones. She was in a graveyard, she was sure of it. The writings on the tombstones were dreadfully familiar to her. Oliver Queen. John Diggle. Felicity Smoak. Laurel Lance. Quentin Lance. Moira Queen. Roy Harper. Thea Queen. Nyssa a Ghul. Slade Wilson. Isabel Rochev. Robert Queen. Donna Smoak. Evelyn Smoak...and the list goes on and on. _What the hell is going here?_ Sara thought to herself.

She screamed when hands thrust out of the ground. She scrambled to her feet and made a run for it through the woods. _I've seen Walking Dead before but this is ridiculous_ , she thought as she bolted, pushing through the branches. She has never seen something like this. This is just a dream, she kept telling herself. This is just a dream.

She trips and finds herself rolling down a hill until she fell into a pond. The water was a bit mucky and she tried to get out but she couldn't. She was sinking into the mucky waters. She even clawed at the edge of the water, getting mud caked on her fingers. She can't get out.

She looks up and sees Felicity standing at the edge of the pond, staring down at her with a cold look behind her glasses. Sara sighed of relief, knowing that Felicity was going to help her out of this.

"Felicity, get me out of here, please," she said, stretching out her hand.

Felicity simply smirked wickedly at Sara before getting on her knees and swatting her hand away. _What is she doing?_ Sara thought as she looked at her friend in confusion. Why won't she help? Something is wrong. This is not a dream. This is a nightmare. And that can't be the real Felicity Smoak.

The dream Felicity leaned closer to her and whispered: "I told you were going to regret it." That voice. Sara recognized the voice and went on full rage trying to grab his throat but Felicity, who was now laughing in Colton's voice, backed away.

"You son of bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed but the more she struggle, the more she kept sinking till her face was only showing in the mucky water. "You crazy fucker!"

"I'll tell my daughter you said _hello_ ," he said as he took out a cigarette and a lighter.

He lit the cigarette and began to smoke as he watched Sara sink deeper and deeper till she was underwater. She had tried to call out for Oliver, hoping he would wake her up but the only thing that came out of her mouth were bubbles. She couldn't breathe. She needed air. She tried to swim back up to the surface but she couldn't. She was having the same nightmare she was having before but worse. _Help me_.

There were bodies floating in the water around. Her loved ones. She even saw Felicity. Every one of them was dead. And they were now being eaten by something. The bodies were being eaten and only a black shadow and red smoke showing. The water had turned red. And then the shark came again with its open mouth showing blood and flesh between its teeth, and Sara screamed.

Oliver came out of the bathroom in his jeans as soon as he heard Sara scream. When he entered the bedroom, he found Sara thrashing on the bed, convulsing as if she were having an epileptic seizure. And she was screaming bloody murder as if she was being attacked.

"Sara! Sara, wake up! Wake up!" Oliver immediately went to her side and laid hands on her in attempts to wake her up but her thrashes were too violent. She even accidentally punched Oliver square in the face, which knocked him back to the floor. He spat out blood. "Sara, please, wake up!"

Suddenly, her body shot out of bed and was now levitating in the air, her limbs and head hanging down. _Oh my God_ , Oliver thought as he stared in horror and shock. For a moment, she remained still in the air before she began to thrash and scream again. Large bloody bite marks and scratches were appearing on her flesh, and the shirt Oliver gave her was becoming soaked in blood. What felt like hours, were only a few moments, before Sara began to cough up water along with blood coming out afterwards before she collapsed back down on the bed.

Oliver breathed heavily from the shock he was feeling right now. He stared at Sara's bloody body, just lying there with blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. Tears pooled Oliver's eyes as he shakily crawled over to the bed to Sara's side. He thought she would have woken up by now but she didn't. There were large bloody bite marks on her arms and legs, in shapes of round gaping holes.

"Sara," he whimpered as he held her face in both of his hands. Blood filled her mouth and soaked the sheets of their bed. He checked her pulse by pressing his fingers against her neck. There was no pulse. He pressed his ear against her chest. No heartbeat. She's dead. _Holy shit, she's dead_ , Oliver thought and looked at the blood staining his hands. He couldn't believe she was dead. "No, no, no, no, no. Sara!"

Oliver grabbed his cellphone and called 9-1-1. He had to call the hospital and the SCPD. Detective Lance had to know about this. His daughter Sara is dead.

* * *

Slade's POV

Felicity didn't want to have lunch with me. She tried every excuse to shoo me away but I persuaded her either way. Of course, I did threaten her that I was going to tell her colleagues about her babbling in the hospital and my threat sort or worked in a way.

"I was going to have lunch anyways," she said as she collected her coat and followed me out of the IT Department. She sounded sore when she spoke to me. Ii almost forgot her father tried to strangle her in the parking lot. The doctors said it did minor damage to her vocal cords. I am wondering how will this affect her ability to scream louder than an eagle.

She wouldn't make eye-contact with me on our way to a café near the IT Department. She usually goes to Big Belly Burgers but the fast-food restaurant is near Queens Consolidated, a mile away from her. She probably wants to get this over with. She believes that I would try to hurt her the moment she turns her back on me. I have no reasons to harm her today. I simply wish to speak to her, about the night that happened between me and Isabel. I know that she does not want to talk about it nor does she want to do anything to do with me. She didn't show it much in the hospital. She even smiled at me and asked me not to leave her side. Of course, she was on _whacky meds_ , as she called them. Now, she wasn't cracking a smile at me. She won't even look at me. It was the same expression she had when she quit Queens Consolidated. Her look of deception and disgust.

We went to the café. We sat in one of the tables near the windows. For some reason, she likes sitting near the windows. I don't know why. I watched intently as she kept looking out the window, watching the people walk pass the café. We ordered coffee. I order a cappuccino. Felicity ordered an iced mocha latte. It's odd. I thought she would order something hot to drink. There are many things I do not know about her and really do wish to know her more.

"I'd expect you to order coffee," I said.

"This is coffee," she said.

"Coffee is usually hot," I reminded her.

"Well, I wanted iced coffee," she said before taking a slurp from the straw, "It's my money so I can buy whatever I want. Don't tell me how I should eat my food."

I chuckled. She really _is_ interesting.

"I can tell you're not happy to see me one bit," I said.

"You think? First, you tricked me in Queens Consolidated. You were selling out half of Queens Consolidated and you made me announce it in his face as if I was betraying my own friend. Then, you kidnapped me and Donna, and threatened to kill her right in front of me unless I confessed the identity of Oliver Queen in front of a camera to show and entire city. I also killed a guy, thinking it was you as Deathstroke. And then, I just had an inerasable image of you having sex with Isabel during the masquerade party ―."

"The very reason I asked you to join me," I interrupted her, "I wanted to talk about what happened that night."

"I don't think there's anything to talk about," she said sternly before taking another slurp. I sigh.

"I believe there is," I got down to business right away. I wasn't going to let my interest in Felicity Smoak get in my way. "Your friend and Oliver's whore, Sara Lance, went into my office. You told her about the event the other night and yet, you said you wouldn't tell anyone about what you saw."

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I only told Sara and no one else. I told her about it the same night. I was in a bit of a shock and needed someone to talk to, and I thought Sara was the only one I could talk to about my… _issues_. I didn't tell anyone else, I can promise you that."

"Good," I say, "You _do_ realize what happens if you do?"

"Yeah, I know," she said, "You don't need to rub it in."

"I don't understand why you told that bitch in the first place," I said, "She has no business knowing what I do. Imagine if she had told Oliver Queen."

"First of all, don't ever talk about her like that," she said, "You may hate her and Oliver and you can take all your hate in your Deathstroke costume but in civilian clothes, you will show some respect for her. Second of all, she's not going to tell Oliver. We all know how Oliver is. He will be shitting his pants off right now if he knew about your relationship with Isabel."

I stared at her and she stared at me in return with a cold glare. This reminded me of the time Adeline and I got together at the candy store to talk about the death of her grandfather which my brother killed in cold blood for a wallet. Right now, I feel like I'm talking to Adeline instead of Felicity. It feels odd and not in a good way. I don't like comparing Felicity with my wife.

"I don't even know why we're talking about this," she said and bit her lower lip, "I don't even know why you brought me here."

"I wanted to bring you here to apologize about the event that occurred that night between me and Isabel," I said, "I just wanted you to know that there is nothing between me and her―."

"I don't really care."

"Of course you don't," I said. I reached out for her hand but she retreated it. I sigh in deception. She does not want me to touch her in any way. "I simply wanted to apologize for it and hope that we can leave it all behind us, and returned to our normal lives as if it did not happen."

"That's going to be a bit difficult considering…I don't think I can forgive you," she said.

"I'm not asking you to do so, Miss Smoak. I am simply asking you for us to ignore all the events," I said more insistently, "Can you do that?"

"I think I can do that," she said. Her hands were shaking a bit. She was still afraid of me.

"…I still need you to return to Queens Consolidated―," I said immediately.

"I'm going to stop you right there," she interrupted me, "I'm going to respect and accept what you said to me but I don't think I can go back to Queens Consolidated. In fact, I won't go back to Queens Consolidated. It's very hard to work without avoiding any eye-contact with Isabel every time she walks into your office."

"I understand that but due to your current situation with your father, I think it's necessary ―."

"You knew about my father's release?" she said. I can notice her eyes flaring behind her glasses.

"I didn't know at first," I confessed, "Captain Lance brought me into the station for questioning. I was shocked to know that they released your father. I became quite bitter at the situation and I don't believe I can rely on the police work but Captain Lance has given me the suggestion of asking you to return to Queens Consolidated so I may keep an eye on you at all times."

"So, you want me to return so I can be your executive assistant again?"

"I would actually want to promote you," I said, hopefully she might accept my offer, "as vice president of Queens Consolidated."

She stopped drinking her iced coffee and stared at me in surprise. "Isn't that Isabel's job?"

"Yes," I nodded. She is correct.

"But that would mean you'd have to fire her," she said.

"I believe so," I said, "Of course, it would be for the best since she was giving you a hard time."

She chuckled, looking down at her ice latte, and smiled to herself. "You'd be doing everyone a favour by kicking her out the window of the top floor," she said with a smile. She remained silent, deep in thought. I chuckled. At least she's taking consideration of my offer. She looks up at me with a smile. "Pass."

A clever plan to keep her closer and another opportunity for her to be safe went away just like that. My smile fell and she continued to frown at me with a hateful glare.

"Listen, Slade, I appreciate the offer but _no_ ," she said, "I've already mentioned this to Oliver and Diggle, I don't want anyone keeping an eye on me. If you or father are going to kill, you can and there's nothing Oliver or Diggle can do to stop. But I don't need anyone babysitting me. I may be in danger, Slade, but I'm not helpless or defenseless. I can take care of myself. You already saw what I did to Colton at the parking lot and what I did to the man dressed like you."

"I am aware that you are not helpless, Miss Smoak," I admitted, "Of course, what happened at the parking lot could have ended in worst results if I weren't there to assist you."

"He didn't kill me -."

"But he could have. Remember, you acted throughout adrenaline. You may have saved yourself from your father this time but imagine if next you won't have the same luck twice. You must never test your luck, Miss Smoak."

"I'm not," she said sharply, "But I do think it's better if you'd let me handle this on my own."

"Good," I said before sipping my coffee. It has already ceased its heat from the long period of chatter. "You'll be saving me the trouble of rescuing you again."

"Again? What makes you think we'll be seeing each other again?" she asked.

"You wouldn't?" I asked.

"...No." But I can tell the look on her face. She wasn't very sure about that either. "I don't know."

"...It's all right to be afraid once in awhile."

"I never denied it," she said. "...Why did you save me? Not that I don't appreciate you saving me. Actually, I am very grateful for your generous rescue. But since your the enemy of my friend, I expected for you to let me get killed by my father. Instead, you simply sucker-punched him in the face and check if I was all right and to top it all, you went to visit me at the hospital and gave me a rose...I should probably shut up and let you answer the question."

I chuckled. "I had my reasons," I said, "Also, I did not know you were being attacked. I simply knew when I arrived at the scene."

"You were following me?"

"Yes," I confessed.

"Why were you following me?" she asked more demanding.

I lifted up the keys I took out from my pocket for her to see. Her keys. The ones she left at Queens Consolidated. Captain Lance wanted to take them away for evidence but I told him that since the keys were not involved in the attack, it does not consider as evidence of a crime scene. Of course, that is just an excuse for me to give them back to Felicity but it was a true fact and it worked. She looked at her keys in surprise.

"You left these at Queens Consolidated," I said.

"Oh," she said but made no move of taking it from my hands. "Are you sure you didn't just take them from me while I wasn't looking?"

"Miss Smoak, do you really think of me capable of doing such things?" I asked, pretending to feel offended by her question.

"Yes." At least she is honest with her answers.

"Well, I didn't," I said, "In fact, if you had not left your keys behind, I wouldn't have known you were in danger."

"So, technically, my keys saved my life?" she said and laughed. At least we had something to laugh about.

"...How is your throat today, by the way?" I dared myself to ask, becoming serious once more. "Do you still contain the ability to scream?"

"I can scream still. If you're referring to the one I have now, I'm not so sure. I haven't been able to test it out and I don't think I can do it right now, especially like this." She placed her hand over her throat and gulped. She was obviously feeling uncomfortable with a sore throat. I am guessing it also makes it difficult for her to eat and swallow any thing hot. Perhaps that is the reason she preferred drinking iced coffee instead of hot. "But maybe after what Colton did, perhaps I already lost it." The tone of hopelessness in her voice.

"Doubt you'll know if you do not even try," I smile at her. She sighs but smiles either way.

"Listen, I don't want to make this personal. Right now at the moment, nothing is really personal. I just feel that I can't really depend on anyone to take care of me. I want to depend on myself. If I want my father to go down, I need to do it my way and legally."

I sigh. If only it were that easy, Miss Smoak. But not everything said can be done so easily. "Not everything is so simply, Miss Smoak."

"I never said it would be." I look into her eyes behind her glasses. She means business. She is different than any of the girls I've met, a lot more different. She is not as blonde as I thought. "I may be blonde but not _that_ blonde. I dye my hair actually. It used to be black." I know. I've seen her hair before in the photographs.

We leave the cafe. I payed for the coffee. I offered myself to walk her back to the IT Department but she insisted she would take a taxicab. She still didn't trust me. I cannot blame her for that. She is definitely not dumb enough to trust someone that can kill her as soon as she turns her back.

"This is the first time I am able to have a conversation with you without the fear of getting my neck snapped in half...Not that you would do it now but...You'll never know," she croaked. She is still the same babbling girl I always find amusing.

A phone began to rang and she immediately dug into her purse for her Q-Phone. Just looking at the later Q for _Queen_ makes me want to vomit. "Um, you don't mind if I take this, right?" she asked. I let her be. No, I don't mind if she wants to answer the phone. Every call is important no matter how stupid it is. Of course, she did not turn her back on my as she answered the phone. "Detective Lance, hi. Um, I'm a bit surprised you called this early. I thought you would call me in the evening," she said while keeping her eyes on me. She is looking a bit concerned about what Detective Lance is about to say to her. If the police deny to her arrest her father, things can get ugly. "Is there something wr-?..." Her eyes suddenly widen, her lips were turning red and her breath began to hitch. "What?..."

Her eyes watered and they immediately ran down her cheeks. "No...No...No, no, no, no, no." She gasped repeatedly as she fell to the floor on her knees and dropped her phone. Afraid that she would pass out, I held upright and she began to sob hysterically. The way she was reacting, it was concerning me. What was it that made her so upset? What did Detective Lance tell her that made her so hysterical?

"Miss Smoak," I said, trying to calm her down. She was grasping onto my coat, sobbing profusely. People that were walking by stared at us but gave them glare that scared them away. "Felicity..."

She looks up at me. Her lips quivered. Her nose was red and her eyes bloodshot and teary. "Sara..." She croaked in a whisper. "...She's dead."

* * *

 **Well, guys, there you have it. I've been a little slow since it was the holidays and now I was getting ready for college but I think this chapter is ready now. Don't worry, more will be coming soon. So, this is the next Chapter of Black Smoak. Of course, many people expected Sara to die even if they didn't expect when or how she would die. Now that Sara is dead, things are going to go bad for Felicity. The only friend she ever had. Gone. And it's all because of Colton even if she blames herself for her death. Right now, this is going to damage her psychologically in a way, so, please don't miss the next chapter of Black Smoak. So, thanks for reading Black Smoak. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of Sara's death. And have a happy new year.**


	18. Chapter 18: Something else

Felicity's POV

The doctor took away the sheet, revealing Sara's body lying lifelessly on the tray. She was pale and grey and covered in holes and large scratches. She had been clean from all the bloodstains but still looks horrible with the wounds. She looks so pale. Her lips were blue and chapped. She looks cold.

When Detective Lance called, I did not respond well. I took a taxi to the morgue where her body would be. Slade offered me a ride, seeing that I looked in a terrible state, but I refused his kind offer. Detective Lance was devastated at the death of her daughter. I was the only one he called because he saw how close I was to Laurel. I don't even know if he called Laurel yet. I don't know if she knows her sister is dead. I asked about Oliver. He was furious. He told me Oliver is now being held custody for Sara's death, holding him as a primary suspect to her death since he was the only one with her when she died. I didn't ask if I could see him, knowing he would say no, so, I asked if I could see Sara instead and he allowed me.

She's dead. I didn't want to believe till I finally saw it for myself. She's really dead.

"She looks cold," I said to Detective Lance. He gave me a grave look. "Why is it so cold in here? She needs to be kept warm."

"We usually keep them here in cold storage to keep them preserved," the doctor said. He was from India but his accent sounds British. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"I'm going outside and have a word with the chief," Detective Lance said. I can tell he doesn't want to be here. He didn't want to look at his daughter's lifeless body for another second. He went back upstairs. I stayed down here, looking at my friend again. I look at her wounds, rows of round gaping holes and deep scratches. I frown at them before looking up at the doctor.

"Those are bite marks," I said.

"No," he said a bit confused, "Those are stab wounds."

"I got stabbed before," I said and pointed at the holes on her arms, "Those are bite-marks. They are in rows."

"Maybe the killer stabbed her with something round and just like doing patterns," he said. He doesn't seem to like me doing his job.

Getting irritated, I take the sheet and cover my friend again, including her face. I can't see this for another second.

"Do an autopsy on her," I say to the doctor before leaving the morgue, "You'll see that I'm right. Mr. Queen didn't kill anyone."

I went back upstairs. Detective Lance was talking on the phone with someone. I waited for him to hang up the phone. I wanted to tell him a lot of things, how Oliver didn't kill Sara. It can't be him. Those wounds. They are not stab wounds. Those are bite-marks. I know a bite Mark when I see one. Oliver didn't kill her. He would never do something brutal like this. I look around the station. Cops making phone calls every second from either reporters or lawyers. It must be driving them nuts. Of course, the sounds of the phones ringing are what are driving me crazy. Oliver didn't kill Sara. He didn't kill her.

Detective Lance finally hung up the phone and finally turned to face me. He nearly jumped when he saw that I was standing behind him. It's obvious he didn't know I was here and not down at the morgue anymore.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked. My chest hurt and my stomach kept on twisting into knots. I feel like I'm going to collapse again like I did outside the coffee shop today when Detective Lance called me. I think I suffered a panic attack at that moment. I don't want to suffer one here, not again. Not especially at this moment. It is not a good time.

"My ex-wife," he said, "Just told her about Sara. She's devastated. She's coming to Starling City tomorrow to see her daughter one last time before cremation."

"Did you say cremation?" As in, they're going to turn Sara to ashes. No. I don't think Sara would want that for her death. No. She wouldn't. I don't want that either. "I don't think Sara would want to be turned to ashes."

"Well, I don't want to cremate her either but I don't want to attend a funeral where my daughter is lying in a coffin covered in stab wounds," he said. They aren't stab wounds, Quentin, they're bite-marks. I wanted to tell him that. But he doesn't seem to be in a good mood. Mentioning that Oliver didn't kill Sara right now would make him in a worst mood.

I'll be honest, I don't want to see her covered in wounds either. But cremating her? It seems wrong. I don't want her in ashes. She wouldn't want that. If Sara was going to die one day, she would have wanted to be remembered as she was a fighter. Cremation is not for a fighter like Sara. She deserves better. She deserves a proper funeral.

"I'll take care of it," I said.

"How?" he asked me harshly.

"I've hacked computers before, I can even hack the NASA if I want to," I said, "I think I can make the wounds unnoticeable at a funeral."

He took a deep breath and nodded. I'll take of Sara for the funeral. She'll like how she was before her death. She's the Canary. She'll look like the Canary.

"…What about Oliver?" I dared myself to ask.

"He's still held in custody," he told me, "He's being interrogated. He says he didn't kill Sara. He was supposedly in the shower when he heard Sara screaming. He supposedly found her on the bed, thrashing and screaming but there was no one there."

"Sara died in her sleep," I whispered. I try very hard not to cry again. Don't cry, Felicity, don't cry. "She must have been having a nightmare and somehow ―."

"Nightmares don't cause stab wounds, Felicity," he said, "This is not Freddy Krueger we're facing. This is real life. Oliver killed my daughter and he has to face trial because of that."

"What makes you so sure that he did it?" I asked with my arms crossed. It broke my heart hearing the accusations that the detective was placing against Oliver but all of them make sense to everyone, including me. Detective Lance said that Oliver and Sara were alone. He was the only one there when Sara was murdered. But there were still many things that did not make sense.

* * *

I leave the police station and head over to the pharmacy. There I bought pills for anxiety and base make-up. Yeah, they sell make-up here. Derma-Blend. Don't they sell this JC Penny or Sears? Does it really matter? Not really. I take the Derma-Blend base make-up. Sara's skin colour is darker than mine so I took the Light Beige one. I'm more Ivory. I had to test it a bit on my wrist before buying it. I also took a few packages of sanitary napkins. My period's coming up in a few days and don't want my panties to be a mess. That reminds me, I should talk to Rachel about when a girl like her starts growing up she'll experience a few things. It's obvious the caretaker will not be responsible in telling her. That's the substitute parent's job in telling them about puberty. Rachel is going to have her period soon once she grows of age and also she's going to start growing breasts once she turns ten, eleven or twelve. That's going to be something she and I need to talk about.

I was about to go over to the cash register when something caught my eye in the medication area where I've been before. Next to the Tylenol and Advil, there was another set of pills. Hypnocil. What's this? I read the description from the back. It suppresses dreams? Odd. I've never heard of this before. I read the side effects: drowsiness, sensitivity to sounds and touch, migraines and fever. These days, my nightmares have been becoming a danger to me but I don't know if trying this will help or if they might cause the nightmares to grow worse. I know that the nightmares are the very thing that caused Sara to die somehow. It was all _Nightmare on Elm Street_ shit going on. But I don't know if I should trust this medication. I sigh before putting the package in the basket along with the other items I would purchase. If it will help me sleep without having nightmare, I should probably test it for sure. I will probably regret this later.

* * *

Next morning….

She looks like herself now. For the funeral, she was dressed in a beautiful black dress. I made sure her hair was well brush, brushing away the frizz and knots in her tangled messy hair. I was right about purchasing the Derma-Blend base. It worked perfectly, applying it to her face and making those dreadful cuts on her face, neck and chest disappear and unnoticeable before applying powder. Only light lines showed beneath that entire base but it still looked invisible. I tried very hard not to cry as I kept preparing her for the funeral. I added a bit of brown eyeshadow, a light amount of mascara (I don't want her to look to heavy on make-up) and light colour of pink lipstick. She looks beautiful now. This is how Oliver, Diggle and I would want to remember Sara how she was. Beautiful, brave and tough. A good woman.

I eventually freaked out on the people that were preparing her for the coffin before I got to work on her. They did a very sloppy job. It was a horrible job they did. I actually screamed at them in anger to get out, something I have not done in a while.

 _"_ _Why is she like that?"_

I made sure she looked pretty for today. I brushed off a bit of the excessive amount of eyeshadow. Her eyes were still closed in the moment she died. What is that she saw that wouldn't allow her to open her eyes again?

 _"_ _Why is she like that? She's not supposed to be like that!"_

What could have happened to her? What did she see that caused her to die? Did she suffer the same thing I did, only she didn't make it? What did she see?

 _"_ _Get out!"_

"Felicity…"

I gasped and turned my head around. Laurel is standing behind me, wearing a black suit with a white blouse. Everyone would be wearing black or charcoal grey today, I'm guessing. It's a funeral, duh. I'm just making insensible assumptions.

Laurel stares at me for a few moments before her eyes drifted over to her sister and they immediately became shiny and watery. I look at Sara. She needs flowers before putting her in the coffin. Very pretty flowers and not dying ones. A bouquet of white orchids would do just fine. That would be perfect. I look back at Laurel. She's already standing a foot away from where I was sitting.

"She looks beautiful," she said. She should have seen her how she was before. The people that were preparing her for her funeral did a terrible job at it. If it weren't for me, Laurel would be angry right now and would be suing the funeral home for their crappy job. I practically saved their asses from facing a jury.

"I thought she would want to look her best," I said, "Since it's the last time we'll be seeing her. I knew she would want people to remember her as she was before."

"A fighter," she said. She took the words right out of my mouth.

"Yeah."

Laurel smiled and I smiled back. She sat down next to me and held her sister's hand. I held them earlier before. They were still cold. And it's because of the air from the morgue. It's because she's dead.

"Just when we had her back, she's gone again," Laurel said, "And this time, she's not coming back."

"At least, she died here in Starling City and not in the ocean," I said and pursed my lips to shut myself up, "I'm sorry. That was the wrong thing to say."

"Actually, you're right. I'm sort of glad it happened here and not in the ocean where we all thought she was dead. We wanted her back, even if it was her body. But I'm glad that she was home where she belongs and died here. I'm just upset I didn't get to say goodbye."

I noticed a tear run down her eye but she immediately wiped it away.

"Your father said that Sara was asleep when she died," I informed her. I don't know if Detective Lance told her all the details, other than that she is dead. "Oliver is being held into custody until the case is investigated."

"You don't believe he did it, do you?" she asked.

"…No."

She smiled again but it was not a good one. "Ollie may be a lot of things: a liar, a playboy, a cheater and an idiot. Bu he's not a murderer. He didn't do it. But I don't think my father is going to believe me."

"He won't believe me either," I told her, "I wanted to ask him if I could see him. Maybe I could have asked Oliver what really happened. But I know he would not let me see him."

"…Who the hell would do such a horrible thing to Sara?"

"Slade…But he was with me when your father called me. Before you ask why I was with Slade, he invited me for coffee to settle some issues we were having. It wasn't very important. Your father said that Oliver and Sara were alone when she died."

"If they were alone, how did Sara die?" I don't know. I wish I did. "You said she died in her sleep. I was recently working on a case where at least four people died in their sleep. They all died with signs of being strangled, stabbed and everything but with no fingerprints."

A murderer that's doing a good job hiding his/hers tracks by not leaving fingerprints. Smart. It sounds like the many times I was attacked in my dreams; in Queens Consolidated when I woke up with a broken nose and when I was almost murdered while being in a coma. The strangest part is that my nightmares always have to do with my father. Some Freddy Kruger shit going on. Could my father be…? No, that's impossible. He can't be a metahuman, not like Barry. Barry is a good guy. If my father is a metahuman that enters people's dreams, I need to have it confirmed. I need Cisco to run an investigation for me, to make a list of the people that were affected by the explosion that night, anyone that could have been exposed to the radiation of the explosion.

But why kill Sara? If he wants me, why did he have to kill Sara? Then I remember the night he was stalking me at the diner. Rachel and I were hiding in the lady's bathroom. When we came out, Sara was bashing my father's head against the bar table after she had shattered a glass on the back of it. Oh God no.

"Why would they want to kill her so brutally?" Laurel asked again, already beginning to shed tears.

"I'm thinking of someone who was probably very pissed at her," I said. Sara died because she was trying to protect me. It's my fault she's dead.

* * *

Many people appeared at the funeral: Quentin, Laurel, Quentin's ex-wife, Thea, Diggle, Lyla…and Sin. I don't know her much but she always use to follow Sara a lot. They were both attached, like sisters, like she and Laurel used to be. She always stopped by at Verdant to hang out with Sara for a while. Sara had told us that Sin's father died in a plane crash, on the same island where she, Oliver and Slade were. That's just the saddest story I have ever heard. I simply kept looking around, listening to people mumbling among each other. Laurel's mother wouldn't stop crying. Diggle wouldn't stop looking at Sara who was now lying in the coffin. Thea was talking to Sin, asking where Roy could be. But Sin didn't know where Roy could be. I wish I knew. Oliver tried looking for him for days but with no luck. And Laurel won't leave her sister's side.

I feel a déjà vu here right now. This reminds me of Moira Queen's funeral, when Slade ran a sword through her heart. I, honestly, did not want to be at her funeral. I only went to the funeral, expecting Oliver to be present but he wasn't. At least Diggle was there. Mrs. Queen hated me and she probably wanted me dead for telling her son who Thea's father is. It wasn't really fair for Moira to keep secrets like that from Thea. It's not fair. I keep thinking, if Oliver is going to be sentenced to prison for the murder of Sara Lance (which he did not commit; it was hypothetically speaking), what's going to happen to Thea. Who's going to take care of her? Thea might be able to take care of herself. But I'm scared she might not be able to go through it alone. She already lost her father Robert Queen, her mother, Walter, Tommy and now Roy. She can't lose Oliver too and neither can I.

"Are you okay?" Diggle asked as he approached me. I shook my head. No, I'm not okay. Sara is dead.

"There are so many people here," I said, "People that loved Sara. I have never seen so many, not even in Moira's funeral. There were many that hated her that did not show up at the funeral."

"Some people that loved her didn't show up either, like Oliver," he said, "I know you're worried about him."

"He didn't kill Sara," I said, "I know he didn't. He's innocent."

"I know. But until we find out what's going, we're going to have to lay low."

I am afraid though. Things can go bad while trying to catch the killer. If we don't do something about, Oliver is going to rot in jail for the rest of his life, or worse. Death row.

"Shit." I hear Diggle curse quietly and I stare at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Don't look now but Slade and his Wicked Witch of the West is here," he mutters to my ear. I already looked.

Slade Wilson and Isabel Rochev. They're here. Why are they here? They probably want to mock us for Sara's death. Slade wanted Sara dead. He wanted Oliver to suffer. He got what he wanted. Sara is dead and Oliver is in jail waiting for trial. Slade is dressed black instead of the light grey suit he always wears, and Isabel was wearing a black cocktail dress with a V-neck that showed part of her breast and the skirt showing her leggy supermodel figure. Shallow bitch. You're at a funeral home, show some respect. I really don't want them here, especially Slade. I don't really care if he saved my life from my father. He still did a lot of bad things and it's disrespectful for him to come here without an invitation and he knows that he is not welcome here.

"Mr. Wilson," Detective Lance approaches the man in the eyepatch. The detective doesn't seem too happy to see Slade here either. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to express my condolences," Slade says. I don't believe him. Diggle and I were at the other side of the crowded room, listening and watching. Isabel saw me and gave me a smirk. That's her whole 'Your friend is dead and now you're next, bitch' look.

"Well, I don't think we sent you an invitation," Detective Lance said, "And I don't think Laurel will be happy to see you here at her sister's funeral since you were not in a very friendly relationship with Sara or with her boyfriend. In other words, I don't think you're welcome here."

"I understand, detective," Slade said, "Fortunately for you, I'm not here for Laurel or Sara."

After he said that, he looks over his shoulder to look directly at me. I shudder at his gaze. He gave me a soft smile but it was soon replaced with a look of deception when I did not smile back. He notices I'm not at all happy to see him.

"I think I'm gonna go and lie down for a while, Diggle," I tell him without taking my eyes from Slade.

"Are you sure you do not want me to keep an eye?" Diggle asks.

"I think I'll be all right," I said as I walked away from the crowd.

Luckily, the funeral home has a room for visitors to rest or to take lie down because there are many family members that are so affected by their deceased loved ones that they need to take a rest. I need rest. I'm tired. And I don't want to be anywhere near Slade. There's a chaise lounge here which is good. I can lie down there and have a few minutes of rest. The only thing I am worried about is dying in sleep. I should be worried of Slade trying to strangle me in my sleep but I'm not worried about that at all.

I lie down on my side on the chaise lounge, curling up in a fetal position and removing my glasses from my face. I dug through my purse and dug out the medication I bought from the pharmacy. Hypnocil. I don't know if I should take them or not. I don't know if they are safe for me nor do I know if they work. I put them back in my purse and put the purse down on the floor next to me. And I closed my eyes.

I open my eyes. I was lying on a bed. My bed. I was in the same position as I was on the chaise lounge. I know this is just a dream. I wish it was real and not a dream. I try sitting up but I can't. I can't move. I'm in my apartment but I do not know how I got here. On my nightstand, there are few candles lit. I don't remember having candles on my nightstand.

I saw a figure approaching my bed. Sara. She looks just how she was at the morgue: wounded, bloody, her hair messy and damp, her face pale and gaunt. She's wearing Oliver's shirt and it's stained in her blood. This is just a nightmare. She's not real. This is all in my head.

Sara sits down on the edge of my bed and caresses the top of my head. What is she doing?

"What do you want?"

"This is your entire fault; you know that, don't you?" Sara claims but the way she spoke, this is not Sara. This is my father's voice, "I defend you and this is how you pay me, getting me killed?"

"You're not real," I whispered. "You're not Sara."

"I am Sara." She crouches over me, her knees at either side of my hips and she leans closer till our noses almost touched. "Or at least I was Sara till you killed me."

"I didn't kill you," I said, "You did." Her smirk slipped away, turning into a very stern look. "You don't really think that just because I'm dreaming you can play me for a fool, am I right…Dad?"

The smirk comes back again. "You are so much like your mother, always thinking she has things figured out."

"I already did. I know exactly what you want…But you can't have me."

"Hmmm…I've always wonder what it's like making love to a woman in another woman's body." My father brushes his lips over mine. They were Sara's. He has no right of using them.

"You show disrespect of using my friend's face for your own game," I whisper venomously. If I only had my scissors with me right now. I would not only cut his face but slice his neck open.

"Funny," he said, "The last time I remember, it was _you_ who killed Sara. You were the last thing she saw before she sank into the waters, crying out and she even called you a bitch."

"…You're lying," I said, "You tricked her into seeing me but she knows it wasn't me."

"Either way, you caused her death," he said, "If only your bitchy friend had not hit me in the head…In fact, if she hadn't tried to hide you from me, maybe I would have considered letting her live. But here she is. Dead. Bitten. Scratched. Eaten alive. And now her boyfriend is in jail because of something you did."

"I did nothing, you bastard!"

"Hiding from me is something, or haven't you noticed," he kept saying, "Oliver Queen is hiding you. Sara Lance was hiding. John Diggle is hiding you. Even your fucking new boyfriend Slade Wilson is trying to hide you."

"He's not."

"Oh really? Because if he wasn't, he wouldn't have saved you from me. If he wasn't such an insomniac, I would have fucking killed him a long time ago. Not to mention that fucking serum in her veins!"

"Why are you doing this, Colton?"

"Stop that. Stop asking stupid questions you know the fucking answer to!" And he slapped me in the face, and I cry out. Those were Sara's hands that slapped me. "You're just as stupid as your fucking mother! You know exactly what I want, Felicity! I want you! I want you! I want my daughter with me, by my side, so we can the father and daughter I wanted us both to have when your mother took it away from us."

"You're a sick bastard," I cried, "You always wanted me your own way! I hate you! You'll never have me, fucking bastard!"

Sara's features turn dark. I just made him angry. He then brings up a butcher's knife which raises the question how it ended up in his hands in the first place. This is the dream world. Anything can happen. But this is my dream. My nightmares. He can't control my dreams, not matter what.

"Then you can die with them!"

I scream when I used all my strength to bring up my arms to shield my face as Sara began to stab me.

* * *

Slade's POV

"What are you doing here, Slade?" Mr. Diggle asks as he approached me, his arms crossed over his chest. I almost forgot he was here with Felicity Smoak. I didn't bother approaching her when I saw her walking away. She looked tired. She needs sleep. Besides, she is already distressed enough. I was at the table for a cup of coffee. I couldn't sleep either.

"Well, Mr. Diggle, I think you know the answer to that," I say proudly before taking a piece of cracker from a bowl and taking a bite out of it.

"She doesn't want anything to do with you, remember?" he said, "She already told me you had a meeting with her. She didn't inform what the meeting was about but she let me know where she was. I'm guessing it was something personal….I'm warning you, stay away from her."

We both suddenly hear screaming. It was coming one of the rooms, the room Felicity Smoak is in. John Diggle and Detective Quentin Lance ran, pushing through the mumbling crowd, and I followed them afterwards. For a moment, I thought Isabel is trying to kill her. But I soon realize she's at the other side of the funeral home, looking around in confusion and shock as well as the others. I ignored her staring at me as I followed John Diggle and Quentin Lance to the other room.

Felicity was lying on a chaise longue. She must have been sleeping. She is now thrashing and screaming. The thing that happened to her at Queens Consolidated, it is happening again. John Diggle crouches next to her and shakes her violently in order to wake her up. And it worked. He did not need to slap her like Oliver did.

Felicity Smoak immediately ssits up from the chaise lounge, gasping, shaking and tears streaming down her eyes. She looked horrified.

"It's okay, Felicity, it's okay," Mr. Diggle assured her as he held her. I opened up my mouth to say something but kept myself silent, "You're okay."

I notice a few wounds on her forearm with blood trickling down her arms. Stab wounds. She was being stabbed. By who? Or what? That is the question needed answered.

"What happened to your arms?" Mr. Diggle asks in shock when he saw the wounds on her forearm.

"I don't know," she gasped, shaking her head.

"She needs to be taken to a doctor," I suggested. I then regret speaking.

She looks up at me with a darkened glare and gritted teeth.

"You," she hisses as she stands to her feet and pushes me backwards, "You shouldn't be here. Get out!"

"Hey, whoa, Felicity-." Mr. Diggle tries to hold her back but she shoves him back as well.

"No! This man, this son of a bitch thinks he can just come in here whenever he wants! Stop following me!" she snaps, "I've had enough of you and my father!"

"Miss Smoak -."

"Shut up!...You wanted this. Aren't you happy now!? You wanted to destroy Oliver Queen and destroy the people around! You already got you wanted! There's no fucking reason for you to be here! Stop pretending that you're here to see how I am! You know how I'm feeling! Sara is dead and now Oliver is in jail for murder! It's what you wanted! Now it's done! Why can't you just leave!? Why can't you just leave me alone!?" She is crying now, her hands grasping the roots of her blonde locks. Mr. Diggle immediately took her and sat her down on the chaise lounge.

"Mr. Wilson, I think it's time for you and Miss Rochev to go," I hear the detective say, "As I've said before, you're not welcome here."

"...I suppose you're right," I nodded in agreement even if I wanted to stay till she calmed down but I am afraid my presence is making her more unease, "I do express my condolences for your daughter. Goodbye."

I soon left the funeral with Isabel. I sigh at the thought. I knew it was a bad idea to arrive at the funeral during the family's mourning over Sara Lance. I knew I would not be welcome since the kidnapping of Thea Queen and the murder of Moira Queen. Now Sara Lance is dead and Oliver is in prison for her murder, a crime I doubt he has committed. Oliver Queen did not kill Sara Lance. I know him too well. He would never lay a hand on Sara. Why do you think he chose to save her over Shado, which is another proof he is in love with her? Now she is dead. And Felicity is clearly upset about her death. She became very angry with me at my presence.

 _"You already got what you wanted!"_ Those were the words she screamed out at me.

To be honest, I didn't really get what I wanted. I wanted to make Oliver suffer for Shado's death. But did I really want him to suffer this way? Yes. I wanted to kill Sara in front of him. It was something I wanted for years. But it is I who wanted to kill her in front of Oliver. I wanted to see his face horror. But now seeing the anger, the hatred and horrified look in Felicity's eyes, I am no longer sure. This is not what I wanted. She will no longer wish to see me anymore.

"So, how did it go? What was her face like when she saw you?" Isabel asks with scornful smile upon her face and her leg crossed over the other, drinking the glass of rum she has in her hands. "I would have loved to see that."

"I don't want to talk about it," I sigh.

"Oh come on, the least you can do is give a few details. Staying silent on the way is boring. Besides, you should be happy. Sara is dead and Oliver is now rotting in jail because of something people thought he did. Even you know he didn't do anything. But it doesn't matter now anymore now does it? We finally got what we wanted."

I didn't say anything to her. I really do wish she would simply shut up for once.

"Oh, I see," she frowns, "You're not happy because you didn't get to shove your cock inside the bitch with glass."

For that, I slapped her in the face with the back of my hand. This is the second time I had to slap her for disrespecting me. She glares at me, blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. I already warned her more than once to never disrespect me.

"This is your last warning, Isabel. Don't try to test me again."

One of the things I could not get out of my head are the cuts she had on her forearms. They were up to her face as if she was shielding her face. They are stab wounds. Someone had tried to stab her. The thing is, there was no one stabbing her.

* * *

 ** _Song: Snow Ghosts - The Hunted_**

 _"Come on, you idiot, hurry up before someone sees us," my brother told me harshly as I was helping him drag a black trash bag where the body of the dead girl was stuffed inside. After my brother had raped her, he snapped her neck, killing her instantly. She took an empty trash bag and stuffed her body inside it. He didn't want her to report us to the police. He shouldn't have done that though. She was just a girl. He shouldn't have raped or killed her._

 _He decided to dump the body in the ocean. We stole a car and drove to the coast where the waves were crashing down on the rocks, making loud roaring noises as if they were angry. Do the waves know what my brother has done to the girl? There's no one in sight. We dragged the body till we stopped at the edge of the dock._

 _"Why did you kill her!?" I shout through the noise of the waves._

 _"Do you want people to hear you!? Shut the fuck up ―!"_

 _"Why!?"_

 _"Do you want the police to catch us both?"_

 _"I didn't do this! You did!"_

 _"You're helping me, Slade! If I got to jail, so are you! Do you want to jail!? Do you want to be taken away!?"_

 _I didn't say anything when he asked that. I don't want to go to jail. I didn't want to be separated from my brother. And I certainly do not want to go back to my father to tolerate more of his abuse. I just don't my Wade hurting anyone anymore._

 ** _You wonder Through the Willows_**

 _I simply want to get out of this place, away from the body and away from the docks. The waves are becoming violent. They can easily break the docks and we can fall into the ocean along with the body of the dead girl. With that thought in my head, I kick the trash bag from the edge of the dock and it disappears in the depths of the ocean, being swallowed by the dark waters. And I shoot a glare at my brother. If this is something he can do to a girl, I don't want to imagine what he will do if he discovers my encounters with the old man's granddaughter Adeline._

 ** _In the forest you were found_**

* * *

Felicity's POV

 _Trying to hide_

Diggle drove me home after Sara's burial. I had my arms disinfected and bandaged after my stab wounds were discovered on my wrists. Diggle asks if I needed to go to the hospital. I told him it wasn't necessary. I lied, saying that I feel better now. I just need rest. But I don't want to sleep. We all know what happens if I do. Diggle tells me he'll be in charge of the Arrow mantle till things are straighten up and hire a lawyer for Oliver when trial comes. I will visit Oliver tomorrow and ask him a few questions. I need to clear up my doubts, to see if all this that has happened to me were real. They are real to me. I don't know if it was real to Oliver. Right now, I might just watch an entire season of _Doctor Who_ all not long with Rusty.

 _Your footsteps in the ground_

When I returned home, I fed the cat. He wants the fish fillets. He hates cat food. Afterwards, I took a shower and changed the bandages after they got soaked. I changed into my pajamas and tossed the black dress into the hamper for me to wash later before sitting down on the sofa.

It's so wise

In the shower, I kept my forehead pressed against the tiled wall as I was thinking of how things were left out between me and Slade. I was very angry with him for showing up at Sara's funeral, as if he were there to mock her death. My father certainly was mocking me of her death in my head. I shouldn't have yelled at Slade like that. I didn't mean the things I said to him. I was scared. I was pissed. And I acted like a bitch screaming at him. It's my father's fault I screamed at him.

 _If you try to run_

But it's my fault Sara died. She was trying to protect me. She tried, and look where it got her. She's dead. She's dead because of me. Now Oliver is in jail paying for something he did not do. Her death cannot be left in vain though. What if he goes after Diggle next, or Laurel or Donna? Something needs to be done about it and I'm not just going to sit here and let my father win. I'm not going to let him hurt anyone else I love.

 _It's not so wise_

I get up from the sofa and walk over to the empty room of my apartment. My apartment has two bedroom. One where I sleep and the other where I keep my computers and storage. I have boxes I brought from the basement of the club after Isabel Rochev had it closed down. Rusty had followed me to the room, probably curious of what I'm looking for.

 _You know I've won_

 _You know I've won_

I open up one of the cardboard boxes I brought back home with me. The neighbours thought my aunt was moving in. But this is something else. From this box, I retrieve a black leather eye-mask. One of Sara's mask. The Canary mask. I take a deep breath at the sight of it in my hands. When Sara used to put on the mask, she was intimidating and almost scary. If I put on the mask, I will feel silly than scary. Rusty meows at me but I paid no attention to him. I slowly stand up from the floor and walk over to one of the mirror I always thought it was unnecessary to have in my bedroom.

 _And you smile_

 _On your knees_

Looking at my face in the mirror, I carefully put on the mask over my eyes. For some reason, I do look like Sara. We both have blonde hair. But that's not the only thing have in common. We both want what's best for this city. Without Oliver, there's no Arrow. Diggle can fill in for him for a little while but not even Diggle can do it alone. He needs help. He needs _my_ help. I know that I am not qualified for this. I need a lot of work before I can decide to save anyone from bad guys. And my new abilities simply won't do the trick on their own. I know I can never take Sara's place as the Canary. But still, someone has to do it. No, I don't _have_ to do. I _want_ to do it, for Sara. If I want to avenge my friend's death and bring justice to this city (which is something she became the Canary), I have to become someone else. Something else. Someone that's not me. I have to become the Canary.

 _The Hunter becomes..._

 _The Hunter becomes...The Hunted_

 _The Hunter becomes...The Hunted_

* * *

 **After so long, I finally finished this chapter. Thank God. That was exhausting. Sorry if it took me long to write this chapter, I have been much occupied with college, the new fanfiction and my original story which I am not telling about till it's done. Still, here is my new chapter to _Black Smoak_. I'll be posting a new one as soon as I can as well as another chapter for _Overwatch_. I had to cut a few parts of this chapter because the chapter was too long but the cut offs have been placed for another chapter so don't worry. Please comment and tell me what you think of this new chapter. Please. **


	19. Chapter 19: The Beginning

**Okay,guys, right now I'm having trouble deciding whether to have this story written in first person's point-of-view or third person's point-of-view so I'm going to try and use the third person and see if it works better. If not, I will continue using the first person's point-of-view.**

* * *

"Oliver Queen, you have a visitor," the police said before opening the door to the visiting area.

Felicity nearly gasps in shock at the sight of Oliver wearing orange and having his wrists handcuffed and a bruise on his left eye. _What happened to him?_ she wondered. It's been only three days since Sara died and now Oliver has a black eye. Felicity waited in silence till Oliver finally sits at the opposite side of the table.

"Hey," she croaks with a small smile. Oliver smiles back but she can't tell he is not in the greatest mood.

"Hey," he says.

"I can tell that you feel like shit so I'm not really going to ask how you've been," she says.

"I appreciate it. What about you?"

"I have not slept in three days," she explained. Oliver can tell by the bags beneath her eyes and how pale she has become.

She explains to him how she quit her job at Queens Consolidate. She also mentions how Diggle is filling the mantle of the Arrow while his case is being laid out. She also informs him of Slade's success of having the other companies investing Queens Consolidate and that the company has already begun to rise from its previous situation to a 65% so far. Sara had a proper funeral. And she's helping anyway she can in protecting the city. Of course, she's not telling him everything of what she has been doing in order to _help_ Diggle to save this city. Oliver soon tells Felicity how he will be facing trial in a month or two and see if he will be found guilty for the murder of Sara Lance, something he did not do. Laurel will be defending his case, something that Captain Lance is clearly not happy about. _Of course he's not_ , she thought, Sara has just died and now his other daughter Laurel is defending a supposed killer.

"We're going to get you out of her, Oliver," she promises.

"...Sara is dead," he says, tears forming in his eyes.

"We're going to find out what happened Oliver." Of course, she already knew what happened. All she wants to find out is how all this happened and why? How did Colton end up with these new abilities of entering someone else's dream and manipulating them. She needs to talk to Cisco about it and fast before something else happens. "And we'll make sure she's at peace."

Oliver holds her hand gives her a gentle squeeze.

"In the apartment, I hid something under the mattress where we were both sleeping," he said. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what he and Sara were doing that night. "I need you to go to that apartment and find it for me. It's under the mattress."

"I'll find it then," she nods. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She shouldn't be crying. Oliver is the one who's life is sucking right now. He lost his mother. He lost his company. He lost his club. He lost his house. He lost his reputation. And now he lost Sara and is now paying for her death. This is something Slade wanted. He wants Oliver to suffer, taking everything till there's nothing left of him. This is what's left of Oliver Queen now, a poor orphan in an orange jumpsuit and arrested for murder. Slade finally got what he wanted. "I'm helping Diggle anyway I can to keep the city safe while your case is being solved. Till then, stay put."

"You sound just like me."

"I learned from the best." She smiles.

Her hand slips away from his. She knew she will not be seeing him for awhile till things are solved. She just wanted to make sure things were okay. She didn't want to see him so depressed about it. She didn't want him to suffer the same fate Cooper did.

* * *

After she left the prison, she went to the apartment Oliver and Sara were staying. There's yellow police tape blocking the entrance. Felicity had to duck under the tape in order to enter the apartment. Golden light bathed over the apartment and reflected upon her pale face and made her blonde hair glow. Most of the things were taken from the house for evidence. It feels so cold in here.

She entered the bedroom where it all happened. The police even took the bed-sheets and pillows that were covered in Sara's blood. They didn't take the mattress though. It is completely stained with dark red (almost brown) blotches. The police found no guns, bullets, knives or anything that could have been used to kill Sara Lance. Also, they did not find any signs of struggle except for a punch in the face. That's the only sign of defense they found. They did not move the mattress, which is good. Whatever Oliver was hiding under the mattress, it must have been important. Perhaps its something that can help him out of that dreadful prison he is in.

She crouches next to the bed on her knees and her hands dig under the edge of the mattress. _What does Oliver want me to find here? What is he hiding here? Why does he want me to find? What am I looking for anyways?_

Then she felt it. She felt a small box in her hands and immediately takes it from under the mattress. The box is small and black and soft in the touch. Felicity's eyes widened in surprised when she recognized it. She already knows what it is but opens it anyways, revealing a diamond ring between velvet cushions. It's an engagement ring. Oliver was going to propose to Sara that day.

"Oh my God," she whispers in tears.

"Don't move." She recognized the voice of Detective Lance and tried very hard not to scream from the fright he gave her.

"I identify myself as Felicity Megan Smoak and I ask you not to shoot," she announces with her hands raised, one of them still holding the box.

"I could have shot you, you know," he said. Felicity slowly rises to her feet and turns around to face him. "What are you doing here tampering with evidence?"

"I found this," she says, showing him the wedding ring inside the black box. "Oliver had this hidden under the bed before her attack. It's a wedding ring."

Lance stares at her incredulously. He didn't want to take the box Felicity is offering to him in her hands but takes it anyways and studies it. He recognizes the ring. This was Moira Queen's ring.

"Oliver is not sick enough to kill Sara and marry her corpse," she deadpans, "Necrophilia is not really his thing."

"I - I don't know what to think," he stammers.

"Oliver was going to propose to Sara," Felicity continued saying, "...He didn't kill Sara."

"If Oliver Queen didn't do it, who did?" he asks.

"Someone who must have been really pissed off at her," she says, "And I'm going to make sure that person stays behind bars."

"No offense, but you're no Green Arrow," he scoffs.

"...I never said I need to be the Green Arrow nor did I say I ever wanted to."

* * *

 **2 weeks later...**

John Diggle is chasing one of the criminals down the alleyway, a corrupt businessman named Adam Hunt. The man's been involved in heavy drug trafficking and is being hunted down by both SCPD and GCPD after the man left Gotham City to avoid arrest and/or getting killed after stealing 200 pounds of drugs and 20 crates with 800 guns from a crime-lord Gotham City calls by the Black Mask. Diggle is wearing the Green Arrow suit, taking the mantle while Oliver is in jail.

Diggle is chasing him down the alleyway. It's ruining. Well, it's not a downpour, more like a drizzle. It's a cold night. Breaths would come out as white mists. But Diggle is cooking inside the green suit. Diggle ran as fast as he can. The drug dealer is faster than he thought. He climbs up a dumpsters and jumps over the fence. Diggle does the same. _I don't know how Oliver does this_ , he thought as he kept chasing Adam Hunt down the alleyway. Adam Hunt makes a right turn and Diggle follows. As much as he likes being the Green Arrow for awhile, he still misses Oliver. He can't does this by himself. Of course, he's not alone. He has Felicity helping him these days back at the Clock Tower, coordinating Hunt's location. But it's not enough. He needs all the help he can get. But until Oliver gets his ass out of jail, he's on his own.

When Diggle catches up to Hunt, the drug dealer is already climbing up a ladder to one of the buildings. Diggle sighs in frustration. Shit.

"Felicity, Hunt is on the roof. Give me his next location," he speaks through the earpiece. There's no answer from her. "Felicity?" Nothing.

 _I don't have time for this_ , he thought as he shoots a grappling-arrow that gets attached to the top bar of the ladder and pulls him up to the roof of the building Hunts disappeared to. He gets to the roof. Adam Hunt is gone. There's no one of the roof. The distance of the next-door building is too far for Hunt to jump over and there are no other escape routes. Then where -?

Diggle suddenly gets struck in the back of the head and he falls on the floor. He got hit by a pipe and he figures it's Adam Hunt.

"I ain't going back to Gotham! You ain't sending me back to Mask!" he keeps. Adam Hunt is delusional. He thinks Digle works for the Black Mask. It looks like he didn't the memo when he arrived at Starling City.

Diggle quickly rolls on his back and aims an arrow at him.

"You're going back to jail, Hunt. There's only wait out, either you came back with me quietly or I drag you back with an arrow through your knee!"

"You lie! You work for him! He sent you to kill me!" He uses the pipe he struck Diggle with to knock the bow out of his hand before he could even shoot it and strikes down the pipe of his abdominal, causing the air to be knocked out of him, raises the pipe to hit him in the head. _Great, I'm gonna die. That will be great on my tombstone. Death by a crazy drug-dealer with a pipe_.

"Adam Hunt!"

Hearing a woman's voice on the roof, Diggle and Adam Hunt turn to see her standing on the edge of the roof, silently panting and in a defensive position. She is dressed in a black leather suit, her hair blonde and wavy and flowing around in the wind, her lips in a deep shade of red and wearing an eyepiece mask. _Sara?_ It can't be. Sara is dead. He saw her in the coffin at her funeral.

"You have failed this city!" And lets out a shriek. Diggle covers his ears from the loud shriek. But Adam didn't have much luck. He falls back to the floor unconscious, probably after hitting his head against concrete.

After ten seconds, the screaming stopped. Diggle watches the woman dressed in black leather, the Sara Lance impersonator. _Who is this woman and why is dressed up as the Canary?_ Of course, the scream was familiar.

"Now I know why Sara is always relieved getting back to the lair after every mission, this suits is burning up," she pants with a smile, "I need a break. There was no signal here by the way so you should be glad I got here in time before he turned your head into a batter."

"...Felicity?"

* * *

 **Yeah, it's a bit too short. I intended to make it longer but there is so much going on that I do not have the time. So far, this is the best introduction I can give for Felicity introducing herself as the Black Canary. Yeah, I know what you all thinking "Why you made her the Black Canary introduction so quickly? She's not trained yet." I know. I'm getting to that part. Also, using the Canary cry does not count as fighting. Felicity is aware she is not trained for fighting criminals so she is using her canary cry as a weapon till she is properly trained. Of course, that is going to get her in trouble as well if you keep reading the rest of the story. She may be dressed as the Black Canary but she has a lot to learn before she is even ready to fight crime and we all know who is the best to train her.**

 **Anyways, thanks for your patience. Please comment. Please! And expect more later on Black Smoak. I guarantee it will be better than this.**


	20. Chapter 20: Black Waters

**Chapter 18:**

"When were you going to tell me that you were training all these weeks and now you just showed up wearing Sara's costume?" Diggle asks Felicity as they headed back to the Clock Tower after handing over Adam Hunt to the SCPD. Felicity felt lucky that Detective Lance did not see her in the costume. It doesn't seem the best time to let Lance or Laurel know that she's taking the mantle of Sara. They'd probably be pissed about it.

"Soon…probably…tomorrow…or never," she says as she takes off the mask once they entered the tower.

"You're kidding, right? Then why you showed up to save my ass?"

"Because you needed help." That's one reasonable explanation. "Adam Hunt was becoming a delusional man. According to Jerome Valeska, he used to be attended in Arkham Asylum back in Gotham City. He was working for a crime lord called the Black Mask and was being pursued after he robbed a bunch of guns and drugs from him. He got captured once by Mask's men once and was severely tortured to insanity and now he thinks everyone works for Mask and is out to get him."

"Who the hell is Jerome Valeska?"

"He's an old friend of mine. He and I both lived Nevada before his mom decided to force him to drop out of school and work with her at circus. His mom had a history of child abuse but the Child Services couldn't do anything for him," she explains, "The circus had a performance in Gotham City where Jerome went insane and killed his mother with a hatchet. He was diagnosed with psychosis and is sentenced to be treated at the Arkham Asylum. He gives me intel anyway he cans."

"And you're still friends with that guy?" Diggle asks incredulously.

"He was my best friend and yeah, I still keep in touch with him," she says, knowing that this conversation was getting a bit awkward, "He writes letter to me. Although I get a bit concerned of the letters since I don't know if he's using red ink or blood to write letters."

Diggle pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs in frustration.

"Okay, another quick question, how come you never told me or Oliver that you have a friend in Gotham City who's a complete psychopath and has killed people?" he asks.

"Because perhaps you guys might think I'm a psychopath too?" she smiles at him in a very uncomfortable way. _I'm in trouble here, am I?_ she thought.

"Now why would you say that?"

"Because I also have a friend in Gotham who's a psychopath as well," Felicity confesses with a sigh.

"Name."

"His name is Oswald Cobblepot and he's a crime lord in Gotham," she informs, "He use to study with me in college before he got kicked for bad temper and low grades. He was working at a club with his mom. He also gives me intel on what goes on with Gotham. He also gave me a run-up on Hunt."

"Isn't that guy wanted for crime?"

"Yep. But don't waste time trying to ask me where he lives because he never actually says. He never gives me personal information so I don't think you might be getting anything out of me."

"But you know those kinds of people are dangerous, right? I don't think it's a good idea for you to be around them," Diggle is trying to keep Felicity safe. She is like a sister to him. He would hate to see her get hurt, especially like this.

"They were good people once," she says sternly, "Jerome was sweet, kind, generous and yet shy and vulnerable. His mom used to hit him, a lot. He would come to school with bruises his back and face, and would tell the teachers that he fell down the stairs. Oswald was smart and kind too but would get bullied a lot. I would see bruises everywhere. He even had a broken arm once. His mom would get sick all the time. So, it's not really their fault the way they became, except for their choice but…It's not their fault."

Diggle doesn't understand. How the hell did Felicity get mixed up in this mess in the first place? She's a good girl. She shouldn't be hanging around with people like Jerome Valeska and Oswald Cobblepot. Of course, there are many things Diggle and Oliver never knew of Felicity. The secrets she keeps. Diggle decides to brush them off, knowing that he might have the questions answered later but not now.

"And the training? Are you training?" he asks. He was concerned that Felicity actually went out there to save him without training or preparation.

"Um, I am training," she nods, "…a little. So far, I'm still trying to learn how to control my abilities. Caitlin and Cisco are helping with that."

"But you need physical training ―."

"I'm working on it," she sighs.

"Okay, okay. I get that you're trying to help and also trying to honour Sara's death but I don't think you're ready for this sort of thing."

Felicity sighs and runs a hand through her hair. She sits down on her chair and puts her elbows on her desk, leaning over it. She looks at her reflection in the computer screen in front of her. Blonde girl in a black leather suit. She already looks like Sara in the Canary suit, minus the deep red lips. But she definitely is not Sara Lance. _I'm not even close_ , she thinks.

"It's not just about trying to honour her death," she says without taking her eyes off her non-existing twin staring back at her, "The man who killed Sara is still out there. And I want to find him. I want to take him down, Dig."

She already knows who killed Sara. Colton. That's all she ever thought about, finding Colton and take him down. Colton killed Sara. She doesn't want Diggle to know about Colton's ability to invade dreams and turn them into nightmares. He already freaked out when he found out about Barry being the Flash. She doesn't need to freak him out more than he is now.

Felicity has also been taking those drugs she bought at the pharmacy before Sara's funeral. Hypnocil, dream suppressing drug. Her father cannot attack her if she doesn't dream which is a good advantage but she can't say the same thing for the others. Colton is after Felicity. Her nightmares have been signs of his return. Sara's death was a warning sign. She doesn't want to know the rest. Why does his father want her so badly?

"I know, girl," Diggle says, sitting down next to her and places a hand on her shoulder, "but I don't think it's a good idea running around in the Canary suit if you're not ready yet. Imagine if you run into someone who already fought the Canary. You already have those abilities to help but what happens if you have to fight them physically. You need time still. I'll help you anyway I can. We'll find the bastard that killed Sara and we will take him down. Just promise me something."

She nods in agreement.

"Don't go nuts," he says. She giggles.

"I appreciate the advice then."

"How are you holding up though?" he asks, "You know, with what happened to Sara and what happened at the funeral and all."

"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking," she sighs. She was afraid he would that. She turns on the computer system and begins to scan the area of Starling City, searching for any criminal activity. Anything to keep her mind off that day.

"You didn't look fine though that day," he said.

"Yeah, um, that was definitely a horrifying experience I wish not to recall or talk about it," she drawls as she begins to type into her keyboard. She really wanted to forget that moment, especially the _last_ part, one that she hopes for Diggle not to mention.

"And then you yelling at Slade. No one expected that," he then mentions.

 _Yeah, that was the last part I didn't want him bringing up_ , she thought. The way she shouted at him _. Not cool at all_. She really does regret screaming at Slade that way. She has not heard from him since Sara's funeral. No obnoxious calls from her cellphone or any unexpecting visits from him. Looks like the message went pretty clear. She did tell him to leave her alone. She didn't expect for him to listen. Now she has been feeling a tight knot in her stomach, twisting her intestines and her head swarming with the things she had told him. Slade may be an asshole but he definitely didn't deserve that.

"I shouldn't have yelled at him like that," she said, "Sara just died and the first thing I do is scold him and yell at him."

"Well, he did kill a lot of people, including Moira. So, it's safe to say that he deserved what was coming to him."

"But it wasn't his fault Sara died. I don't think he went to the funeral to mock us. He didn't deserve what I said to him," she shook her head. She felt very disappointed in herself. "I felt like a kid throwing a tantrum at the funeral."

"Don't beat yourself over it, Felicity. That's one of the things you need to learn when becoming a superhero," he keeps telling her, "Don't let emotions cloud your mind. That is the main key to win a fight. Don't let anyone or anything get in your head."

"…If only it were that easy."

"It never is."

With that, she gives him a soft smile.

"…Hey, it's the weekend, right?" Diggle asks with a frown.

"Yes?"

"So where's Rachel?" he asks.

Felicity immediately points at the corner of the room. Rachel is sitting there, reading a book with earphones on, and listening to music. _The Loney_ by Andrew Michael Hurley. Diggle was a bit crossed that Felicity left Rachel alone in the Clock Tower. With a lot of enemies roaming around, the last thing that she needs to do is to leave the little girl alone in the Clock Tower. But he brushed it off. If only he knew that Rachel is not as fragile or weak as he thinks she is. Even with the headphones on, Rachel knows what he is thinking. She even kept her head buried in her book so he wouldn't see her eyes turn black.

* * *

"So, did you brush your teeth?" Felicity asks Rachel after tucking her into bed. The little nods. Felicity then raises an eyebrow doubtfully, "Show them to me." Rachel grins at her as wide as she can, showing her teeth. Felicity examine them but she gave the thumbs up in approval. She made string beans and lamb for dinner and didn't want any of the food stuck in her teeth.

"Okay then, Jaws, let's get you into bed," she says, "Do you want to keep the nightlight on?"

The little girl nods her head again and Felicity turns on the nightlight, giving the room a soft golden hue. "I brushed my teeth. I washed my face. I made sure my feet weren't dirty before going to bed. And I took Hypnocil like you told me."

Felicity sighs when she said that. She really hated asking Rachel to take Hypnocil, to suppress her dreams. But it was necessarily. She knew that if Colton can't hurt her through her dreams, he might try to hurt Rachel instead, and she didn't want that to happen. She just hopes this does not affect her physically as it does to her. She doesn't want to get in trouble with the headmistress at the orphanage.

"You're not going to tell the headmistress about this, right?" Rachel asks in concern.

"Only if _you_ don't tell her," Felicity says and the girl shakes her head in response. She kisses her on the forehead and Rachel kisses her cheek in return.

Rusty suddenly enters the room. He stopped by the bed, looked up at them and meowed. He wants either Felicity or Rachel to carry him. Felicity bends down and takes Rusty in her hands before placing him down on the bed next to Rachel.

"Rusty is going to keep you company, okay, that way you won't feel so scared?"

"….Mother and I used to pray a lot when she tucked me into bed," Rachel suddenly said, "She told me that prayers would keep me safe and now that she and I are not praying together anymore, I …"

"You don't feel safe anymore, right?"

Rachel shakes her head at that.

"Do you want me to pray with you, to make you feel safe?" Felicity asks.

"You'd really do that for me?"

"Well, I'm Jewish, but if it makes you feel better, I'll do it, okay?" Rachel smiles and nods, "So, um, do we, do we get on our knees and put our hands together or we can simply do the hand thing only. What prayer are you going to use?"

Rachel had already clamped her hands together and placed it on her chest. "Okay, um…" Felicity clumsily placed her elbows on her knees, clamped her hands together like Rachel did and put her hands to her forehead. They both closed their eyes and Rachel began to pray.

" _Oh God, my Lord, I now begin_ ," she chants, " _Oh help me, and I'll leave my sin. For I repent and thou shall be. Thru evil I will turn to thee. Whomever shall destroy my faith, for I repent and thou shall be. Oh God, my Lord, I now begin. Oh help me and I'll leave my sin. For I repent and thou shall be. Thru evil I will turn to thee_."

Okay, that was getting dark really fast, Felicity realized. Why would Rachel's mother used that kind of prayer? And how is that going to protect her? And from what she should be protected from?

After the, very disturbing, prayer, Felicity kissed Rachel goodnight once more. She let the door half open just in case she needed her, and went straight to bed herself.

* * *

Slade simply sat there quietly in his chair behind desk, looking down at the glass of rum in his hand grimly. He couldn't concentrate on work much. His mind was heavily concentrated on Felicity. Not even Shado's presence could keep his mind from thinking of her, of how things ended up between him and her. Both Shado and Isabel kept telling him to forget about her, that she is simply a waste of time now, that she simply was a distraction for him and that he needed to focus on how to eliminate Oliver Queen now that he's behind bars. But he couldn't focus.

The way she screamed at him, with such hatred, such rage and so much fear. It scared him as well. She was persistent and her message became clear to him. She doesn't want to see him again. But Slade does want to see her again. It didn't feel the same. His new EA was an old hag who wouldn't stop complaining about her job, and she was not entertaining like Felicity was.

He needed to see her again, even if she didn't want to see him. He's going to see her again whether she wants it or not and would give her the cheesiest excuse just to see her again. No, cheesy wouldn't do. He has to be clever about it, a way that she can't turn him down.

"I thought you loved me," he suddenly hears Shado say. She was standing right at the entrance of his office, looking at him with deception and anger in her eyes.

"I do," he sighs. He wasn't so sure anymore. He kept trying to convince himself that Shado was still alive out there and that he

"Then, why won't you stop thinking of her?" she asks.

He didn't know anymore. He loved her. But that was the Shado he met on the island of Lian Yu five years ago. This Shado was different. She did not feel like the Shado he met. Shado is probably angry for Ivo shooting her in the head but never has she ever been this hostile with everyone.

"I don't know," he sighs. He looks at her glumly. Shado closes her eyes and begins to shed tears. The tears are red though. She's crying blood through her eyes.

 _You're no longer the Shado I once loved_ , he thought as a tear of his own ran down his cheek.

* * *

It's three o' clock in the morning. Felicity wakes up from her slumber, yawns and gets up from her bed. _Another dreamless sleep_ , she thought. The pills she's taking are working so far. She needs to go pee though. And she has to go pretty badly. _Why can't I control my bladder? I really need to talk to the doctor about this!_

Even though tired, she walks down the hall, tiptoes past Rachel's bedroom and heads for the bathroom. She turns on the light so she wouldn't bump into anything and walks right in. She hears a splash and her feet feel wet and cold. Frowning, she looks down at the floor. The floor is wet. The water nearly reaches her ankles. _How did this happen?_ She wonders. _Perhaps the toilet broke, she thought_. But she hears the nuzzle from the bathtub is turned on. _Who the hell turned on the bathtub?_ She directs her eyes to the bathtub and gasps when she sees Rachel sitting in the bathtub.

The water from the tub has filled up to the rim and would spill off the edge to the floor. Rachel is sitting in the bathtub in her floral nightgown, her hair damp and the water almost reaching to her nostrils. She did not turn her head to look at Felicity, not even when she gasped. Felicity suspects she didn't even hear her enter. She looks like she's in some kind of trance. Rachel looks different. Her skin looks different. Instead of pale porcelain skin, the child's skin has turned into an ashy grey color with darker grey veins sprouting over her face like roots. And her eyes are completely black like pearls. She looks like a corpse. It also made Felicity fear that Rachel is dead.

"Rachel! Oh my God!"

Felicity was careful running over to the bathtub so she wouldn't slip. She grabs Rachel and pulls her out of the bathtub. She now notices the water is greenish grey and mucky. What the hell happened in here? Instead of trying to figure that out, she runs out of the bathroom and bolts back into the bedroom. She wraps her in a blanket. She's cold. _How long has she been in the bathtub?_

"Rachel?" She embraces her, trying to keep her warm. She then tries to get her to snap out of it. It seems like she's in a trance, buried deep inside her mind. "Rachel, please, wake up." She pats her in the face repeatedly and shakes her. She's not going to slap her though. She would never try to hit her.

"… _Mother and I used to pray_ ," Rachel had said before going to sleep, "She said it would keep me safe…"

From what? From WHAT? _Why the hell am I asking that while Rachel is still in a fucking trance or whatever is happening to her?_

Felicity takes Rachel's hands in hers and begins to pray the prayer Rachel had chanted before bed.

" _Oh God, my Lord, I now begin_ ," she snivels, " _Oh help me, and I'll leave my sin. For I repent and thou shall be. Thru evil I will turn to thee. Whomever shall destroy my faith, for I repent and thou shall be. Oh God, my Lord, I now begin. Oh help me and I'll leave my sin. For I repent and thou shall be. Thru evil I will turn to thee_. _Oh God, my Lord, I now begin. Oh help me and I'll leave my sin. For I repent and thou shall be. Thru evil I will turn to thee…_ "

Rachel suddenly gasps. The ashy colour in her face diminishes along with the sprouted veins and her eyes returns to her normal blue colour. She coughs and begins to cry. Sighing in relief, Felicity embraces her and the child does the same. The child is afraid, Felicity can tell. She doesn't know what did this to her but she sure doesn't want it to happen again. _Could it be my Dad again?_ She wonders.

If only she knew it would be something far worse in the future.

* * *

"Do you want another marshmallow?" Felicity asks.

Rachel's sitting on the opposite side of the table, looking glumly at her breakfast. Felicity has cooked apple cinnamon waffles that had been sprinkle with white sugar powder and topped with two red strawberries. Rachel has not taken a single bite which concerned Felicity greatly. She even made her hot chocolate with two marshmallows in it.

She puts another marshmallow in it. Rachel stares at her emotionlessly. It kinds of reminds her the first time she met Rachel. Felicity puts three more marshmallows in the hot chocolate. Rachel sighs. Then Felicity empties the entire jar full of marshmallows into the mug of hot chocolate, creating a pile. Rachel smiles softly at her but it seems that she is still not in the mood for eating.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Felicity asks and the little girl shakes her head. "I'm never going to give you those pills again." Felicity suspects that Hypnocil is responsible for Rachel's weird behaviour last night and not some supernatural force. _It can't be real_ , she keeps telling to herself in her head as she tries not to freak out more than she is now, _there has to be a very logical explanation for all this_.

"But it wasn't ―."

"I don't want this to happen again," she interrupts the little girl, "I don't want them to take you away from me if this happens again. Do you understand?"

Rachel sighs and nods her head in agreement. Felicity serves Rusty his fish fillets and milk, and makes her own breakfast: scrambled eggs, Italian sausage and pieces of fruit along with tea.

Her telephone begins to ring. She was too busy making her breakfast that she can't answer the phone right now. So, she allows the machine to go to voice mail.

 ** _"Hello, this is Felicity Megan Smoak. I am not here right now…Um, I'm probably at work so you can leave a message or something and I'll call you when I get back."_**

 _Wow, I sound so stupid_. She cringes every time she hears her own voice through the machine. She sounds so pathetic.

" _Miss Smoak_." She nearly drops her plate when she hears Slade Wilson's voice through the machine. " _This is Slade Wilson, CEO of Queens Consolidated. I was hoping you and I might discuss business as soon as you were in a better mood. I have an assignment for you. Unfortunately, I have hackers trying to sabotage Queens Consolidated by breaking through the firewall. They were unsuccessful on doing so but I fear that next time the company won't be so lucky if they manage to break through. I need your IT skills to help install a new firewall, one you think might be strong enough to keep the hackers from tampering with the investments. And before you say no, I already went to the IT Department and strictly asked for your assistance, and already paid 20,000 dollars. That money has already been sent to your bank account. That's half of what you earn. The rest will be paid **after** you complete the job. If you refuse, I'll make sure your account is emptied by the end of the day and your social security number is given out to other hackers around the city." _

_What?_ Felicity face-palmed herself. _That son of a bitch_. She wanted to yell and curse but couldn't do so with Rachel around. That is not fair. Slade is playing dirty with her. _How the fuck did he get my social security number?_ _This is so not fair_. Of course, she knows that if she refuses, she's going to get hacked and everything she worked for will be gone. Oh, the irony of it all!

"Who was that?" Felicity hears Rachel ask. She forgot she's still here in the kitchen.

"Um…no one." Felicity sits down on the table at the opposite side where Rachel is sitting. "Just my boss."

"He doesn't sound nice." The little girl was finally eating the freaking waffles. Finally!

 _He's not_ , she thought.

"He just wants to talk business and he gets really cranky when things don't work out well," she lied.

She hears the doorbell ring. Felicity immediately scrambles to her feet while Rachel remained eating her breakfast.

"That's probably Klarion coming to pick up Rusty," she said as she stumbled over to the door. "Coming!" Luckily, she's wearing her bra this time. She didn't want the same mistake of being caught in her pajamas and without a bra. Well, she's still in her pajamas but at least she was wearing a bra this time. "Come on, Rusty, don't you want to see Klarion?"

Rusty, who was now sitting on the coffee table, stared at the door intensely before letting out an angry hiss, his hairs standing up, and runs away from the living room and hides inside Rachel's bedroom. This caught Felicity by surprise. Rusty has never hissed like that before, she knew. _What's gotten over him?_

She opens the door and finds out why Rusty hissed.

"Slade?"

There he was. Standing in front of Felicity right outside her apartment. She just got a voice mail minutes ago and now he's here outside her apartment. Is he really that desperate to talk to her? Stalker alert!

"Miss Smoak," he nodded in greeting and gave her a smile.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Like I said, I'm here on official business." He intends to brush past her to enter the apartment but Felicity slams her hand to the doorframe to keep him from passing.

"You left a voice mail when you're already standing outside my apartment at this very moment," she whispers so Rachel wouldn't hear her, "What the hell?"

"I was already on my way when I sent you the voice mail," he whispers, "I thought you would you would have preferred if I announced my arrival before actually arriving. Also, may I ask why are we whispering?"

"I have company. So, I think you should leave before ―."

"Felicity?" Rachel's voice could be heard from a faint distance but was still audible for both Felicity and Slade. "Who is it?"

Slade gave an expression of surprise when he heard a little girl's voice in the IT's apartment and stares at Felicity with a questionable look. She closed her eyes and sighed in frustration.

"Like I said," she gritted her teeth, "I have company so if you don't mind ―."

Slade immediately pushes his way inside her apartment, much to her annoyance. It's the second time the psychopath entered her apartment without permission. Not cool, at all.

"Would you like some coffee while you're here entering people's apartment uninvitingly?" she asks sarcastically as she followed him to the kitchen. Oh no, he's going to see Rachel.

"Perhaps some tea," he says and just as she feared, he spotted Rachel sitting behind the kitchen table eating her waffles and drinking her hot chocolate overflowed with marshmallows. He looked at her curiously. She's so pale, white as a sheet, and tired-looking. Her hair was curly and black as raven wings and her eyes were blue. She looked like she hasn't sleep in days. Of course, neither did Felicity Smoak. Both of them looked tired. It seemed both of them had a very rough night. But it was her appearance that caught his attention. It reminded him of another little girl with the same blue eyes but instead of having black, the other girl had white hair. "Who is this?" he asked.

"She's ―."

"I'm Rachel," the little girl cuts in before Felicity could say anything.

"She's Rachel," the IT girl sighs as she went over to the oven to serve the madman some tea. She made green tea. It's good to accelerate the metabolism.

"How old are you?" Slade asked the girl as he sat down on one of the Windsor chair, facing the girl. They were both staring at each other intensely, Rachel squinting her eyes as if examining him.

"Hold old are _you_?" Rachel asks back. "Fifty? Fifty-five?"

Felicity mentally face palmed herself. Please don't kill her. Please don't kill her.

"I'm forty-six," he said in fake offense, "How are _you_? Three? Four?"

"I'm _six_. You're Felicity's boss, right?"

"Am I that really easy to read?"

Felicity returned to the table and puts down a teacup in front of Slade before sitting down herself with her own breakfast.

"You sound like the voice in the telephone. You sounded mean to Felicity." She frowned with her arms crossed over her small chest. Felicity right now wanted to be swallowed by the earth in embarrassment. She was more worried than embarrassment. She was afraid that Slade might try to hurt Rachel if she said something out of line that would piss him off.

"Sometimes work makes people mean by the end of the day. It's called _stess_ ," he cooed.

Rachel remained staring at him. There's an intense silence between the three of them, Felicity now feeling uncomfortable between the odd staring contest.

"…I like him," Rachel says plainly and goes back to eating breakfast.

Felicity tried to hide a smile but was unsuccessful in doing so. Slade smiled at her. He would have preferred seeing her smile than seeing her so depressed.

"Where did you find this girl?" he chuckled.

"Um, she's a friend," she said, "Aren't you Rachel?"

"Uh-huh," the little girl nodded her head.

"She's here, for the weekends," Felicity tried to make this conversation from going awkward but fails miserably. "Um…"

"Miss Smoak," Slade interrupts, "I hope you don't mind but we really must discuss business. I really am in need of your assistance."

"Something about the firewall almost getting hacked," she recalled.

"Indeed," he nodded, "I need your intellectual skills to keep those pesky hackers away the company's investments."

"What's a firewall and what's an investment?" Rachel asked, frowing in confusion.

"I'll explain it later," Felicity said, getting up from the chair, "Right now, I need you to finish your breakfast and gather your things. I have things to do before taking you back to the headmistress."

"Aw," Rachel whines in deception. It was Sunday. Her weekend visit is over. They only have until 5: 30 in the afternoon till Felicity returns her to the orphanage at 6 o' clock. But Rachel obeys and eats her waffle as quickly as possible.

"As for you, Mr. Wilson," she grabbed his arm and had no trouble pulling him out of the chair. He didn't even try to pull back or wrench his arm from her grasp. He was letting her drag him around like heavy cart. "I think it's time for you to leave." She got behind him and began to push him out of the kitchen to the front door.

"We still have business to discuss regarding the firewall at Queens Consolidated," Slade said as Felicity opened the door and pushes Slade out of her apartment.

"Yeah, you said, _at_ Queens Consolidated," she said, "We're are _not_ at Queens Consolidated, we are at my apartment. When we're at Queens Consolidated, we'll work it out but since we are not at Queens Consolidated yet, we have nothing to talk about. So, I will be seeing you tonight probably at the company. But right now, leave."

"Be there at eight, Miss Smoak."

"Yes, fine. Goodbye, Goodbye, Mr. Wilson," she then shuts the door in his face. She presses her back against the door and slides down till her hide made contact with the floor. She sighs in frustration. Jesus Christ, the nerve of this guy, she thought.

"He seems nice, I think," Rachel complimented as she finished her breakfast.

"Yep…"

"Can I take a shower first?" the little girl asked.

"Okay, go ahead but only five minutes. Go on," she says. Rachel nods her head and runs to the bathroom.

Felicity simply sat there on the floor, trying to recollect what just happened right now. Slade Wilson leaving a voice mail to discuss business over a freaking firewall ― something that he could have done himself or just hire another IT expert ― and then just showing up on her doorstep minutes later as if he were a stalker. She now felt threatened now that Slade knows about Rachel. _Will he hurt her?_ She thought. She can't really tell. Of course, one thing's for sure, she's not buying the whole _firewall_ shit Slade was talking about. Something's telling her that Slade didn't arrive to her apartment just to discuss business over a firewall that can be installed in three easy steps.

Still, she was willing to play his game if it would get him to leave her alone.

* * *

 **Okay, guys, here's the new chapter of Black Smoak. This chapter mostly involves Felicity noticing Rachel's weird behaviour. For those who do not know - SPOILER ALERT - Rachel is actually Raven from the _Teen Titans_ comics. I wanted to give a perspective of what she would be like as a little girl in the Arrow universe, very sweet, very cute and yet very mysterious and dark at the same time. This chapter is exposing her strange behaviour which will become worse further on through the rest of the story. If you guys are wondering if Raven is possessing this six year-old girl, she's not. That's actually Raven as six-year-old Rachel Roth. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and I will be posting up more soon. **

**Leave a comment and tell me what you think of this chapter and what you thought about Raven's role in this story.**


	21. Chapter 21: 100

**Okay, for some reason, the last part of this chapter reminds me so much of the ending of the** ** _Fifty Shades of Grey_** **book and movie. So far, it went a bit weird. But still, I'm just getting back in the game which is the reason why this chapter went a bit weird. I'm gonna get better. Still tell me what you think of this chapter. I hope you enjoy it and leave a comment down below. Thank you so much.**

* * *

"And then he threatened me, saying that he was going to hack my social security and credit number and empty out my entire savings if I didn't comply," Felicity said as she was angrily punching the dummy in front of her while Caitlin, Cisco and Rachel watched. She then took a step back and swung a kick to the head. She kept picturing Slade's face on the dummy, or her father's face, whichever works best for her. "Can you believe him?"

"Sounds like a stalker to me," Caitlin pointed out, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hmm, he seemed nice enough to let me go in one piece when I went looking for you at Queens Consolidated…Knee it in the gut. That'll knock the air out of it."

Felicity did as told but both she and Caitlin were staring at him in disbelief. Rachel wasn't paying attention. When it's _adult_ _conversation_ , Rachel had to wear earphones and listen to music while reading.

"You could have told us this earlier, Cisco," Felicity panted as she bashes her knee against the dummy's stomach.

"Hey, we lost connection when you were at the parking lot when you're dad attacked you."

"Please, don't remind of that," Felicity grunts before throwing down the dummy to the ground and begins to kick it in the gut repeatedly, "The only reason why agreed to fix his stupid firewall is to finally get him off my ass."

"Something tells me he does like your ass," Caitlyn teases with a cocked eyebrow, "And I don't think he wants to get off it. He wants to get on it."

Felicity stares at Caitlin in disbelief. Somehow, that kept reminded her of the disastrous mission at the party where she caught Slade having sex with Isabel. The memory still made her feel uncomfortable. Seeing Slade again is not going to be fun at all. With one last kick, Felicity finally detains and immediately begins to chase after Caitlin. Caitlin takes off running. Felicity rarely runs. Whenever she runs, she's always a slow runner since she's always wearing a skirt and high heels. She envies the woman from _Jurassic World_ who was able to outrun a T-Rex in high heels. Right now, she's running barefoot and in shorts which she finds easier to run in than in skirts and high heels.

"Are you ready, Felicity?" Cisco asks through the mike at the other side of the bullet-proof glass. Felicity is surrounded by tall mirrors. Caitlin and Rachel are standing at the other side of the bullet-proof in safety. Felicity takes deep breaths, taking glances at her identical twins.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she nods.

"Go!"

With that said, Felicity screams and the mirrors around her shatter into pieces. She suddenly begins to cough. Her throat feels strained. Exhausted even. This never happened before. She puts her hand to her throat, feeling it pulsing against her fingers.

"You okay there?" Cisco asks in concern. They all saw her coughing uncontrollably after her cry. Her coughs sounded chronic. What the heck was that?

Cisco did a medical check on her vocal chords with a scanner. Felicity's sitting on the medical bed with Rachel holding her hand, waiting for the test results. They somehow got blocked all of the sudden. It became swollen when she screamed before relaxing again. Felicity doesn't know what happened there. She was doing just fine before. Why couldn't she cry out now? Cisco asks if she did anything that might have provoked the blockage.

"No," she said, "We simply ate breakfast, nothing more. I didn't do anything wrong."

"…I have a theory," Cisco raises an eyebrow, "Felicity, what did you do before coming here?"

"Well, I ate breakfast," she repeats, "I ate scrambled eggs and a cup of tea."

"Anything else you did?"

"Um, Slade came knocking on my door," she admits, "I think you already know that. I was a bit terrified but I managed to calm down after that. I'm still a bit anxious about tonight."

"That's what's causing the blockage," he now says. Felicity frowns at him, wondering what the heck he's talking about. "Nervousness. Anxiety. Fear. Stress. Like for people with normal vocal chords, when they're nervous they get some kind of lump in their throat. In your case, you also get a lump in your throat, because you're nervous. You're anxious or scared."

"You'd be scared too if a nutman is at your doorstep stalking you," she says and purses her lips together after realizing that Rachel is sitting right next to her and without her earphones on. "What do you think I should do then?"

"Just try to relax next time, okay? Don't let fear or anxiety take over or things can end up shitty for you," Cisco warns.

Felicity nods in agreement. Of course, it's going to be difficult not to be anxious when about to do dangerous missions at night. She's more anxious about the meeting she has with Slade tonight. So, yeah, she can't really keep promises for that.

Felicity then asks him if he could make her a new Canary suit for her. She likes Sara's costume but for some reason, it's just not working out for her. The blouse does not cover up her entire chest. If she gets shot with a gun or an arrow, it will aim for the heart where it's the most exposed. She needs her suit to protect her entire body from bullets, arrows and anything else that can be thrown at her. But also make it comfortable for her to move around in. She doesn't want to be so stiff when fighting. If she wants to be the Canary, she has to feel like one and unfortunately, wearing Sara's costume doesn't make her feel like the Canary. It just makes her feel like Sara. Cisco agreed to help her with the suit but would take him weeks to design it and to put in the proper necessities. Of course, Felicity still doesn't know if she should be the Canary. She feels it's too soon to wear her costume and walk around the city playing hero when she clearly isn't. She still has second thoughts on wanting to be a hero like Diggle, Sara or Oliver. _Poor Ollie_ , she thought. He must be suffering. Not just because he's in jail for a crime he didn't commit but because he saw Sara die in front of him. If Felicity had known what her father is capable of, maybe she could have warned Sara. Maybe it would have saved her from death.

* * *

Felicity is now parked in the parking lot of Queens Consolidated. She had dropped off Rachel back to the orphanage and it took her almost two hours to get where she is now, plus traffic. And it's almost eight o' clock. She prays that she arrived just in time. Slade made it perfectly clear not to be late.

She looks around before getting out of the car, afraid that she will encounter her father again like last time. She's glad of having her car back after having it a few days confiscated for the investigation of Sara Lance's murder. She's been getting tired of riding the bus of the cabs over to the IT Department. And walking on foot is no help at all, especially if she wears high-heels a lot. Tonight, Felicity is wearing her usual pink blouse and black pencil skirt, and her red trench coat. Her hair remains loose and still wears her glasses. She wanted to wear a ponytail like she always does but refused at the idea.

There are only a few cars parked where she is, including Slade Wilson's Lamborghini. She looks around before bolting out of the car and making a run for it towards the elevator. She hits the button for floor 8 more than four time before the door slid closed. For a second, she thought she saw a shadow but knows that it's just her imagination. _Why is my mind so fucked up these days?_

The building is mostly empty. No one else is around but her. She hopes Isabel isn't around. Oh how Isabel would love to takes this opportunity to strangle Felicity without anyone watching them, except for the cameras though. But Felicity is lucky that it's going to be just her and Slade…Wait, how is that lucky again?

She arrives at the office that used to be Oliver Queen's, her red coat now draping over her forearm. Slade Wilson is sitting behind the desk and the computers – the ones Felicity is being paid and forced to fix, looking at a few documents with a furrowed brow. If it wasn't for the eye-patch and goatee, Slade would look less intimidating and Felicity won't be so afraid of him. Her hands are already beginning to shake and feels her knees buckling, trying to fight the urge of running for her life.

Slade looks up from the documents he's been reading and smiles at the blonde IT girl with glasses standing in the middle of the entry. Felicity gulps in fear. But she tries to put up a brave face and suck it up. _He's not going to kill you, Felicity_ , she keeps telling to herself _, he's not going to kill you. This is just business. He's not going to kill you_.

"Am I late?" she purses her lip. Of course, that was a stupid question to ask.

Slade chuckles. "A bit early. I believe you are right on time though. I guess that means I won't be needing to give away your bank account number to other hackers. I'm so glad you agreed to come."

"If you hadn't threatened me, I wouldn't have come here," she says sternly.

"Of course," he nods in agreement, "which is the reason why I did what I had to do."

"It's not a fair play, Mr. Wilson," Felicity says.

Slade slowly stands up from behind his desk and approaches her. Felicity stiffens, her heart aching in her chest.

"Life will never be fair," he says, "Trust me."

"Do you want me to fix your computer or what?" she tensed. Slade chuckles before stepping aside.

"Would you like me to take your coat?" he offers up.

"I think I rather hold on to it, thank you very much," she grits her teeth and paces over to the table.

She's been working on the computer for almost two hours, with Slade behind her and watching her work. Queens Consolidated has been proven to be difficult sometimes so it's taking her a bit longer to put up a new firewall to keep hackers away. Felicity sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. It's a bit dark in the office and the lighting in the screen is a bit too bright for her. It's burning her eyes out.

"How long will it take you to put up the firewall?" Slade asks after a long time of silence, leaning over behind her. His face is too close next to her face.

"It usually takes me less time to put up the firewall, but Queens Consolidated seems very well protected. It might take me some time to crack the codes and _you're breathing in my ear_! Why are you breathing in my ear? I will appreciate it if you stop breathing in my ear. Back away, back away."

Chuckling, Slade straightens up. Jeez. How I hate when people do that!

"Do you need any help?" he asks

"If you already know how to put up a firewall, I wouldn't be here now would I?" she says bitterly. The new firewall is already about to be installed. It's by 25% percent.

"I really do suggest for you to watch your tongue," he warns her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "Just because you agreed to meet with me, doesn't mean I won't hesitate on keeping my promise. And this time, you don't have Mr. Queen or Mr. Diggle around to save you."

The mention of Oliver makes her cringe. Slade has no respect for how she's feeling. He doesn't care that Sara is dead or that Oliver is in jail. He doesn't care at all. He can snap Felicity's neck at any time and he wouldn't feel a thing.

"You called me, not the other way around," she retorts, "I wouldn't agree to come here if you haven't threatened me. Even if you did hack through my social security and bank account number, I would have changed the password and codes."

Felicity gasps when the chair is suddenly turned and she is now face to face with Slade.

"And why didn't you?" he asks. That's a good question. _Why didn't I change the codes to my bank account and security number? Why did I agree to come here if I can simply change the code to my personal things?_ She tries to say something clever to flip him off but shuts up.

If only the process of the firewall would hurry up so she can grab her jacket and get out. If his old firewall was getting hacked, why didn't he simply report it to the police? Detective Lance won't be too happy to see him at the station but the SCPD have to help everyone in Starling City no matter what. And that's what struck her odd. There are many IT experts at the department. He could have hired any of them. But he specifically wanted her.

"You were never getting hacked, were you?" she asks, finally feeling scared of having Slade so close to her this way. "You just want to be alone with me…Why?"

He sighs and pats her knees. "Miss Smoak…" She immediately tries to stand up from the chair but Slade immediately holds her back down again. Felicity is shaking now, afraid of what Slade might do to her. She's afraid he might kill her or do something far worse. "Please don't try to do that again."

"What do you want with me, Slade?" she asks shakily, "You already got what you wanted. Sara's dead and Oliver is suffering. He's in jail, being blamed for something he didn't do."

"I really am sorry for Sara." He sounds like he really does mean it but Felicity doesn't want to believe it for one second. She wouldn't stop eyeing around, looking for anything she can use as a weapon. Knowing that she wasn't listening, Slade grabs her chin and forces her to look at him. "Look at me," he snaps at her. But immediately releases her when realizes he's being too harsh on her. "I'm sorry."

He grabs another chair nearby and sits in front of her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Miss Smoak. I won't."

Felicity tries to calm herself down. She takes deep breaths in order to stay calm. 30% percent on the computer. _He's not going to hurt you, Felicity_. He's not. She purses her and looks directly at him.

"What do you want?"

"To apologize," he says, "For the unfortunate death of your friend Sara Lance and for Oliver Queen."

"You hated both of them," she reminds him, "You kept wishing them both dead. Sara is dead. Now it's just a matter of time before Oliver gets sentenced to life in prison if Detective Lance doesn't agree to forgive him. I'm not sure if they'll give him the death penalty but there's a strong chance that he might receive a death penalty."

"That's a pity," he says bluntly.

"But you don't care, do you? You showed up at the funeral to mock us all. I know that Isabel did," she says, "She must have enjoyed seeing our pain."

"I mostly went to the funeral to see if you were feeling well but it seems that my presence must have made you feel uneasy. I have never seen you cry before."

"Then you haven't been to Moira's funeral. I didn't cry much. She was a very bad person. I would never call her a _bitch_ because I respect Oliver but she was that kind of person. I don't think she deserved what you did to her."

"No. She didn't. The last thing I wanted was to hurt Moira or Thea. Unfortunately, Oliver had to pay for his sin."

"Shado's death?" she raises and eyebrow. "Death is…unpredictable. You can blame Oliver for something he can't control. He…didn't have much choice."

"Anthony Ivo had a gun pointing at both Sara Lance and Shado," he hisses viciously at her, "He gave Oliver a choice of either saving Shado or saving Sara Lance. Shado died and Sara Lance lived. I didn't know this until the invasion to take over Ivo's ship. I wanted to make Oliver pay for her death. Coming here to Starling City…the only thing I can think of is hurting Oliver Queen by hurting the people he loves before ending his life by driving an arrow through his eye like he did to me." He points at the eye-patch he's wearing. "Right now, I am not so sure if it's exactly what I wanted. I still want Oliver to pay what he did but now seeing what happened to Sara and how she looked at the funeral, it made me think otherwise."

"You didn't react the same when Moira died," she points out.

"Maybe it's because I wasn't at the funeral," he reminds her. He's right. He wasn't at Moira's funeral. Of course, neither was Oliver. Thea is still angry about that. Disappearing on his mother's funeral was disrespectful.

She did it once at her own mother's. Four-year-old Felicity Smoak was too afraid to go near the coffin where her mother's body lay so she ran out of the funeral and Donna had to go after her so she wouldn't go out in the streets and get hit by a car. _Classic Felicity_. At least she showed up at the funeral. Oliver did not even appear for the burial.

"So, you asked me to come here so you can apologize to me for what happened at Sara's funeral?" she asks. It wasn't his fault though and Felicity knows that. He didn't cause Sara's death. She knows she shouldn't have yelled at him the way she did the day of Sara's funeral. She regrets doing so.

"Not only for her death but also for what happened at the party," he mentions the event up. Felicity has been trying to shake it off ever since and Slade bringing it up makes it even worse. "I know that you seeing me with Isabel made you feel uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable? I threw up outside the mansion," she points out, "And I had to get drunk in order to get it out of my head. I still can't get it out of my head."

"I know and for that I'm really sorry," he apologizes and holds her hand in his. He already did apologize when they were having coffee in private, just at the very moment Lance called to report Sara's death. She cried that day and Slade had held her in comfort which she found odd but didn't care that day. She just needed someone to hold her that day. "Please, accept my apologies. And I promise you that this will be the last time I will ever bother you."

50%.

The way he's speaking to her right now. He sounds uneasy. Tormented, even. It made the IT girl feel sorry for him. How much did he suffer to be this way? But Felicity can't be near Slade. She just can. He's done so much harm. He killed people. He broke into the club and nearly killed everyone in the basement. He kidnapped Roy and used him as a blood donor for criminals. He took away Oliver's company. And also killed Moira Queen. And all for a woman he loved but probably never loved him back. What reward is he getting from all this? Nothing.

"Firewall's almost installed," she says and turns away, "It should be done soon in a few minutes. I think my work here is done ―."

"Miss Smoak," he again turns her chair around to face. This time, he is way too close.

He doesn't say anything. He continues to stare at her with his single dark eye. Felicity is confused and scared at the same time, not knowing what will do next.

He kisses her on the head, much to Felicity's surprises. She was about to ask why he did so when he begins kissing at her neck. This caught her off guard. She didn't fight back nor did she push him off. She froze in shock. Feeling him kiss her on the neck is a shocking thing for her. She can feel the stubble of his goatee scratching against her skin. She hasn't been kissed that way since Cooper died. She still remembers that day. The blood. The screams. Those memories make her shake. She wishes Slade would at least slow it done. She doesn't feel like she's ready for it. His hand is on her knee and feeling her skin, before moving to slip under her blouse. A tear slid down Felicity's cheek and she lets out a whimper of fear. The way Slade caressed her stomach…it keeps reminding her of her father. The nights he would sneak into her bedroom. The nights he would try to touch her as a child. Her father is a pedophile. How old is Slade? He's in his mid-forties and Felicity is barely twenty-four. No, he can't be like that, can he? All those confusing thoughts wanted to make her scream.

Next thing she knows, she's pushes Slade off her and bashes his face with a stapler. Again and again and again. She even breaks his nose in the process. When she realizes what she has done, she releases the stapler with a gasp and the blood-covered office supply falls to the floor. Slade splutters and spits out blood from his mouth. He looks up at Felicity in shock, blood dripping from the cuts of his lips and the bridge of his nose.

Felicity can't help but cry. Not because for what she did but because of why she did it. How much she thought of her father when Slade was touching her. He wasn't being forceful. He wasn't restraining her. He didn't do anything wrong. She simply reacted out of panic. It was mistake. 64%

"I'm sorry," she cries, her hands shaking, "I'm sorry."

Blood trickled down to his chin. Felicity immediately stands from her chair, grabs her coat and runs out of the office. 70%. 71%

Slade wipes off the blood from his face. His hand is shaking. Not from anger. He didn't expect something like this to happen. He expect for the response to be different. Of course, Felicity Smoak has been through a lot. He's seen what he father can do. How much her father can hurt her, judging by what he saw at the parking lot. He didn't consider how Felicity would react. He didn't think. He knows why Felicity beat him with the stapler. She didn't do it on purpose. He saw the shock and hurt in her eyes. She's terrified. 80%

"Miss Smoak!" he calls after her. He straights up and runs after her. 83%

Slade finds her standing in front of the elevator doors, clinging at the coat to her chest and tears streaming down her cheeks. She doesn't run away this time nor did she flinch when he places a hand on her shoulders. 88%

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she whispers, "I'm going crazy."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, "I didn't mean to go that far with you. I ―."

"No!" she abruptly moves away from him. She glares at him. 93%

The elevator doors finally open. No one is in there. For her it's good. No one will see her crying. And she walks into the elevator. Slade watches her sorrowfully as she hits the button below. He wants to enter the elevator with her and perhaps stop the elevator to get her to listen. 98%

"I'm the one who should sorry," Felicity says sternly and the doors close shut.

100%

* * *

 **Okay, for some reason, the last part of this chapter reminds me so much of the ending of the** ** _Fifty Shades of Grey_** **book and movie. So far, it went a bit weird. But still, I'm just getting back in the game which is the reason why this chapter went a bit weird. I'm gonna get better. Still tell me what you think of this chapter. I hope you enjoy it and leave a comment down below. Thank you so much.**


	22. Chapter 22: Emergency Call

The first thing she does is take a shower once she arrived home. She locks the door and sets the security system before putting her back against the door and sliding down to her butt. She continues to cry. Rusty comes up to her and rubs his head against her legs.

In the bathroom, she sits in the bathtub with her knees up to her bare chest and her chin on her knees. She closes her eyes and tries to forget the event at Queens Consolidated. She didn't mean to hit Slade with the stapler. He didn't deserve that. She simply wishes to forget what she did. She wants to forget everything. What if she falls asleep? Will it be over? Will it all be a nightmare conjured by her father? Felicity pours water over her head and sighs. Being in a hot bath always calms her anxiety. But she scrubs her next with the sponge, it keeps reminding her of Slade's lips on her, the way his goatee was scratching against her skin. When she was scrubbing her stomach, she can't help cry at the memory of Slade's hands slipping under her blouse. It reminded her of what her father did. Except, Slade's touch have been gentle even though hasty. She was too scared to let him touch her like that. She blames herself for letting her fear get the best of her. _Calm down_ , she thought. Calm down.

The phone next to her rings. It's lying on the toilet seat for easier reach. Felicity looks at the screen, afraid of seeing Slade Wilson's name on it. _John Diggle._ Felicity sighs of relief before answering the phone.

"Hey, Dig," she breathes out.

" _Hey, Felicity, where the heck have you been?_ " he asks with concern. That's right. Felicity didn't tell Diggle where she'd be going. She didn't tell him she was at Queens Consolidated fixing the firewall. Of course, she feels that its best Diggle doesn't know. She doesn't want him to worry more than he is now. " _I called your house 10 times and you never picked up, and left you seven messages_."

"I'm sorry," she apologizes calmly. She doesn't want him to hear her cry. "I was busy. I went to Central City today to see Caitlin and Cisco. Then, I dropped off Rachel at the orphanage…"

" _You also went to Queens Consolidated, I'm guessing you were leaving that part out_ ," he suddenly mentions. Felicity's eyes widen. " _Let me guess, Slade?_ "

"How did you ―? Did you put a tracker on my phone!?" Okay, maybe Felicity should have told him about Queens Consolidated but it still doesn't give him the rights to put a tracker on her phone. She never placed trackers on _his_ phone.

" _Felicity, I'm worried about you, okay?_ " Diggle insists, " _You've met up with Slade without telling me and that scares me. I don't want you getting hurt. Do you understand?_ "

"Yes, I know. Nothing happened, by the way. I can assure you that," she lies this time, "Slade wasn't there. I simply went there to pick up some of my stuff I left on my desk. Check my phone registration if you want. I'm guessing you have another reason for calling me."

She didn't have any calls from Slade Wilson through her cellphone. Slade called through the landline of her home. Diggle sighs before continuing the conversation.

" _Lance and the SCPD need you at the police department on Friday_ ," he says, " _They want to know if you're going to testify against Oliver Queen or in his favour. I'm obviously testifying in favour of him_."

"Then I don't know why you're even asking that question," she scoffs, "You know I want Oliver out of prison. Both of us know that he didn't kill Sara."

" _Yeah, I know_ ," he sighs, " _They still want our testaments by Friday for the jury on Sunday_."

"Court's on Sunday?"

" _Yep. So I hope you have a nice suit and a barf bag because things are going to get nasty_ ," he says, " _Detective Lance is testifying against Oliver_."

Oh yes, Detective Lance. When she showed him the wedding ring she found under the mattress, he took it back to the SCPD for examination but didn't give her any feedback. He didn't say anything for weeks now. He probably doesn't think the ring is enough evidence to prove Oliver's innocence.

"What's the nasty part?"

" _Well, Laurel is Oliver lawyer now_ ―."

"Holy shit." Even Detective Lance's daughter is in Oliver's favour. That is not good. Wait, it is good because Laurel is a good lawyer and a great person. She knows the truth. She knows that Oliver didn't kill Sara. "But wait, isn't that a good thing? I still don't see the nasty part."

" _That's because you didn't let me finish._ "

"Sorry, Dig. You know how I babble a lot so go on."

" _Okay. Take a deep breath. Slade Wilson and Isabel Rochev will also be testifying against Oliver Queen_."

"What?"

" _You heard me_ ," he says, " _Slade and Isabel are testifying against Oliver_."

"When did it happen?" she asks, bewildered.

" _Just a few hours ago_ ," he says, " _The chief of the SCPD just called to notify me that Slade and Isabel are testifying against Oliver_."

Felicity is still remembering what happened a few hours ago at Queens Consolidated, when she bashed Slade in the face with a stapler. And now he's going to testify against Oliver. _Is it because of what I did? Is he doing this for payback?_

"They can't allow Slade and Isabel testify," she panics, "The SCPD should know well how much they both hate Oliver. They'll do anything to keep Oliver in jail or worse."

" _I'm sorry, Felicity_ ," he sighs through the phone line, " _So far, I don't think there's anything I can do. Just pray everything goes well for Oliver, okay_?"

"Okay, Dig. Thanks so much for telling me this. I'll call you tomorrow as soon as I can, okay? Goodnight."

" _Goodnight, Felicity. Please try not to go rogue in the Canary costume, okay?_ "

"I won't. Goodnight, Dig."

And she hangs up the phone and puts it down on the toilet. Damn it. She face-palmed herself. This was probably payback for what she did to him back at Queens Consolidated. She didn't mean to hit him like that. It was an accident. Now he's just being immature. Of course, Slade hates Oliver. Getting beaten in the face or not, Slade would still testify against Oliver no matter what.

Her phone rings again. She looks over at the screen. _Donna_. Her aunt is calling. Felicity is not in the mood right now in taking another call but he picks it up anyways. It has been days since her aunt called. It even worried her also.

"Hey, Mom."

" _Hey, Felicity, how's my baby girl?_ " Donna asks.

"Oh, I'm doing just fine. Work's been a bit heavy lately though," she lies, "What about you? Are you feeling better?"

" _I'm feeling much better, sweetheart. Much better_ ," Donna says through the phone, " _The doctors said the swelling in my ear went down and I can hear just fine. The last couple of days were hell for me since I couldn't hear the boss giving out orders and I served the wrong plates to the customers. One of them ordered fish sticks and I gave them cheese sticks by mistake_."

"I'm sure it's not your fault, Mom," Felicity blames herself for her mother's loss of hearing after what happened at the abandoned shoe factory. She still can't forget about the person she killed, thinking he was Slade when it was actually an impostor. What scared her is how the man posing as Slade was touching. _How can Slade someone to do that?_

" _Well, things happen_ ," she says, " _I'm actually calling to make sure you're okay. I heard about what happened to Sara and I'm so sorry she died. I also heard that Oliver is being arrested for murder. He seemed like a very nice guy. I really doubt he would do something like that_."

Felicity sighs at the subject. She really doesn't like talking about the subject. Sara is dead. Oliver is being trialed for murder. Captain Lance doesn't believe in his innocence or perhaps doesn't _want_ to believe in his innocence. Everything has been turned upside down for her and it's all her father's fault. Why can't he just leave us alone? And then there's Slade and Isabel. They're both going to testify against Oliver in court on Friday. She, Diggle and Laurel are the only ones testifying in favour of Oliver Queen. Three against three. An even but not a good number. She'll have to do her best to prove Oliver's innocent.

"I'm actually testifying in favour of Oliver," she says, "I want to prove he's innocent."

" _You always had better judgement towards people. I really do hope things go well_ ," Donna sighs through the phone. At least Donna didn't remind her of how much Felicity and her mother are alike. Evelyn always had better judgement towards other people no matter the bad things they did. That was the mistake she did when she married Colton Smoak. " _But anyways, how's work?_ "

"It's a bit sour these days," Felicity never told Donna she quit her job. She didn't want overdramatic Momma Bear on her doorstep just for quitting her job at Queens Consolidated. "The boss is not easy to handle."

" _I guessing Mr. Wilson is giving you a hard time_ ," she says.

"You have no idea. There are days when he's actually good but there are days when I actually want to punch him in the face." She quickly bites her lip at her own words. _When am I going to learn to shut the fuck up?_ Slade fucking Wilson. The man that has been driving her nuts since the Verdant club invasion where he starting shutting at her, Oliver, Diggle and Sara. She really wanted to know how he got in there in the first place. She was terrified of him. Now the mention of him was just making her angry. Slade is a stalker. He follows her around everywhere she goes. He even threatened to exposure her security number. Now she has to change her PIN number, her security codes and…it's all going shit for her.

" _But is everything okay? Is he being nice to you? Is he treating you well?_ "

All of the sudden, Felicity sniffles and shudders as tears run down from her eyes to her cheeks.

" _Is everything okay? Felicity? Felicity_ ," Donna says in concern, " _Oh, baby, don't cry. Please don't. I'm sure whatever it is, it's going turn up all right. Please don't cry_."

Just the thought of what happened hours ago at Queens Consolidated made Felicity sick to her stomach. Not the fact that Slade was toughing her but the fact that it kept reminding her how her father used to touch her as well. Slade was being gentle to her that moment. He didn't push any further after she hit him in the face with the stapler. He didn't even follow her when she went into elevator. Hitting him in the face was cruel in her part and unfair. The night of the masquerade, before catching him having sex with Isabel, the way he had his hand tightly on her waist almost possessively. It was scary at the same time a bit thrilling. She felt he would crush her ribs to pieces. The day her father tried to strangle her. She slashed him in the face with a pair of scissors but it was Slade that knocked him out before he can proceeded hurting Felicity any further, and Slade made sure that she was okay. He even brought her a white rose to the hospital. She thought the gesture was sweet. She still has the rose displayed on the kitchen counter near the window where it would catch sunlight; the edges are already turning brown and dry. She remembers the day he held her when she found out about Sara's death; how he held her in a way that made her feel safe. And then, there comes the part of him kissing her neck; how gentle and caring it felt even though desperate at the same time. She can still feel the scratching of his goatee against the skin of her neck. To her, it actually felt very good.

 _Why the hell did I freak out over it?_ She asks herself. She has already experienced it before with Cooper in college. Cooper had kissed on the neck billions of times (in fact, they did more than that) and she never freaked out on him nor did she ever hit him in the face with a fucking stapler. But she did it to Slade. Oh, not to mention that she smacked him in the face. Why? It wasn't because she didn't like it. Of course, she didn't expect for him to do that and it surprised her a bit. She did it because she got scared all of the sudden. It wasn't Slade she got scared of. No. It's her father she's afraid of. When his hand crept under her blouse, it reminded her of the nights her father tried to touch her and _that_ freaked her out and made her react on full instinct. She could have used the Canary cry on him by accident. Luckily, she didn't.

After a short conversation with Donna, Felicity finally hangs up the phone. She had already assured her that everything's fine and told her not to worry.

30 minutes in the bathtub, Felicity finally steps out, grabs a towel from the hanger and dries her body off. She opens up the bathroom closet and takes out a light purple bathrobe. Out of all the colours, she likes purple the most. Purple is a happy colour. Of course, she can't make her costume purple, now can she?

She puts on a pair of boy shorts and her pajamas, the dark purple tank top and the Raggedy Ann pants before slipping on the robe. _I need coffee_ , she thought as she steps out of the bathroom and heads over to the kitchen to prepare herself a cup of coffee.

She stops cold in her tracks and her voice hitches. A dark figure is standing in the middle of her living room with a hood over its head. Rusty is on the table hissing with the hairs of his back rising. The dark figure removes the hood, revealing the face of her father.

"…Dad," she whispers frightfully.

"Don't try to scream," he warns her gently, "Just calm, sit down and let's talk―."

Felicity immediately bolts to the kitchen. Colton enters the kitchen through the other side in order to catch up with her. Felicity tries to snatch a knife from her kitchen drawers but her father grabs her wrist tightly, stopping her from opening the drawer, and smacks her in the face with the back of his hand. She yelps and falls to the floor caused by the blow. She's lucky she's not wearing her glasses. If she was, they would have shattered by the blow. She falls on her side and feels her shoulder pop out of place. She cries out in pain.

"You need to relax, baby girl." She observes crouching over her and tries to undo the tie on her bathroom. "Daddy isn't as patient as he used to be."

She screams and her father flies back, hitting the wall in the process. Felicity stops in mid-scream and starts are coughing as if she was choking on something. She still manages to get up from the floor and opens the drawer to grab a kitchen knife.

"You little bitch!"

Her father charges at her. Felicity starts swinging the knife at her in defense, trying to cut him like she did with the scissors. He still has the scar she left on his face. But Colton seems prepared this time. He would dodge her strikes with ease. _I really need lessons_.

"You really think you can be like that cunting friend of yours? You're the reason that bitch is dead."

With an angry shout, Felicity finally stabs her father in the throat. She gasps in shock at her action. Her father staggers back, his hand grabbing the handle of the kitchen knife Felicity had stabbed him with. _Why isn't he dead yet? Why is he still standing?_ A stab in the throat should have killed him by then.

To Felicity's surprise and horror, Colton pulls out the knife from his throat, red blood painting the blade of the kitchen knife. _Oh my God_.

Felicity immediately makes a run for it. She plans to run back to her bedroom, lock the door and sneak out the window. She only knows a few skills but she doesn't know how to fight, not like Sara. She can't fight her father like this.

Colton catches up to his daughter, much to her misfortune, locks his forearm around her neck in a chokehold and stabs her in the stomach with the knife she stabbed him with. Felicity gasps in pain. She feels like she got punctured by a needle at the doctor's but it feels so much worse. Her stomach searing.

Colton pulls out the knife and tosses Felicity back on the kitchen floor. She hits her head on the edge of the kitchen counter before it hit against the tiled floor, doubling the throbbing agony on her head. Her vision's being replaced with black dots, indicating that she's about to fall from consciousness. Of course, Felicity refuses to fall unconscious. If she does, she'll surely be dead soon.

She feels blood pouring out of the wound on her stomach and covers it up with her hand in order to stop the bleeding, not that it's helping. She's losing blood from the stab wound.

"Sweetheart, I'm trying to be nice to you but you left me no choice," he coos to her, "I love you, baby girl, but I'm afraid I can't have you this way."

 _Help me_ , Felicity tries to scream but it only came out a squeak. She looks up over her shoulder and her eyes widen when she sees her father raising the knife to stab her in the back.

Rusty lunges at Colton and connects himself to his face, scratching and biting furiously. Colton screams in both pain and anger as the cat continues to scratch at him, drawing blood.

This gives Felicity time to get up from the floor already pooled with her own blood. She heads to the drawer again to grab another kitchen knife. Of course, she knows that it didn't work the first time, what makes her think it will work a second time?

Colton grabs Rusty by the fur and rips him off his face before tossing him away like a ragged doll. Colton's face now looks like the girl from _The Exorcist_ film and not in a funny way. Felicity got scared for Rusty after seeing her father toss him away like that. She even calls out his name with no response.

Colton lunges himself at Felicity again. She grabs a frying pan and strikes it at him. She bashes him under his jaw, sending his head back, and swings it to strike him on the left side of the head, knocking him down to the floor face first. Felicity proceeds to strike him on the back of the head with the frying pan till he's beaten unconscious.

She stands there, frying pan ready in her trembling hands. _Wow, this thing does work_.

Knowing that her father is not dead and wake up in any moment, Felicity doesn't hesitate to grab her Hypnocil pills, her cellphone and makes a run for it through the door. It was locked when she left her apartment which raises the question of how her father entered her home in the first place without setting the alarm. The windows were locked too. It would have been impossible for him to invade her home. Of course, Felicity isn't really giving two fucks about how her father entered the apartment. She simply wants to leave as quickly as possible. She feels terrible for leaving Rusty like that but if he's still alive, he's lucky. Felicity? Not so much. She's bleeding all over the place, blood dripping within every step she took. She's running barefoot, not having the time to grab her shoes and her feet slapped against cold pavement. She pants heavily as exhaustion continues to kick in. _I need to get somewhere safe where he won't find me._

 **(Yeah, the trail of blood ain't helping you honey)**

After a while of running, she finds herself in the most public part of the city and yet it's empty from people. _I'm in a horror movie. I'm in a fucking horror movie. Shit._

There are no people around. The stores are closed. And no cars are driving by. But she sees a phone booth. At least it's something.

She immediately enters the phone booth and locks herself inside.

 _Oh my God. It burns_. She hisses and looks down at her wound. It's still bleeding. Her robe, tank top and pants are getting soaked in blood. And it burns. She wanted to run to the nearest hospital but she's already exhausted and too weak to run to the hospital. It's like a 1 mile run. By the time she gets there, she'll be dropping dead in the alleyway.

She pants as she sits down with her back against the glass of the phone booth. _Don't fall unconscious yet_. Felicity takes two pills of Hypnocil in order to avoid having nightmares if she falls unconscious. She knows that nightmares are the only way her father can actually kill her. _I need to call for help._ Felicity's vision became blurry as she takes out her cellphone and used speed-dialed since she couldn't see the dial numbers clearly. _I need to call Diggle_.

* * *

 _"_ _Slade?"_

 _Slade is standing outside Adeline's house. She frowns at him. Slade knows that she's wondering why he was outside her house at this late hour. It's almost 12 in the morning and her grandmother is already asleep._

 _"_ _What are you doing here?" she asked with a frown, her arms crossing her chest._

 _Slade immediately wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace and begins to cry._

 _"_ _You were right! I'm a bad person! I'm a liar!" he cried out. Adeline immediately pushed him off._

 _"_ _I never said you were a bad person," she gritted his teeth at him, "What the heck are you talking about."_

 _"_ _I did very bad things, Adeline," she sniffled, "I did horrible things. I lied to protect my brother."_

 _Adeline stared at him in aghast. She never saw Slade like this before. She never saw him this distraught. But she still doesn't know what's talking about._

 _"_ _I lied. I know who killed you're grandfather, Adeline," he confessed and Adeline's eyes widened. "It was my brother. Wade. He killed your grandfather. I was just walking around when I saw him stabbing him in the alleyway. I told him that he could have taken the wallet but he didn't need to stab him. But he said that he was a witness. And I was so stupid that I listened to him. But I couldn't keep the wallet so I looked for you to give it back."_

 _"_ _I already knew you were lying to me, Slade," Adeline said, "Since the beginning we met, I knew you were lying. You were keeping secrets for me. I knew that you know who killed my grandfather. But I want to know why? Why did you lie to me?"_

 _"…_ _Wade and I ran away from home," Slade confessed, "My mother died from cancer. Wade's my half-brother. My dad's alcoholic and would beat us a lot. Wade always took the beatings to protect me. He told me that one day our father was going to kill us if stayed at home. So we ran away."_

 _"_ _And you believe him?"_

 _"_ _My father is crazy, Adeline," he took a few deep breaths till he finally calmed down. "He's fucking crazy…I love my brother. I'd do anything to protect him as he protected me…But he went too far, Addie. Wade went too fucking far."_

 _"_ _Slade?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, "What did he do?"_

 _"_ _He…He raped and killed a girl in an alleyway," he said, "He and I were just sitting around when a girl walked passed. Wade was trying to get her attention but she called him a creep and walked away. It made him angry. I told him to leave it alone but he didn't listen. He followed her. I didn't see anything but I heard. I wish I didn't. I kept hearing her scream. They were so loud. I just wanted it to stop... And they did. Wade snapped her neck."_

 _"_ _Oh my God," she gasped._

 _"_ _We took her to the docks. I was pissed at him. He went too far this time. But he told me that if I told the police, we would be separated. They would take him away and I'd be sent back to live with my father. I don't want to live with him. But I don't want Wade to keep hurting people. What am I going to do?"_

 _"…_ _How should I know? He's your brother? You figure it out," she snaps at him._

 _Slade doesn't know how to do it. He has never made his own decision. He never knew the difference between right and wrong. He knows that if Wade finds out about his meeting with Adeline Kane, it's the end of everything._

 _"_ _Please help me," he tears up, "I can't do this by myself. I can't."_

 _Adeline sighs hesitantly. "…Where's the body?"_

* * *

Slade laid down on his bed alone. Isabel went back to her apartment after a few more rounds of having sex. Slade wasn't in the mood for it though. He simply wanted to be left alone with his own thoughts. He looked at the picture on the nightstand of him and his mother; Slade in his younger days. He missed his mother as much as he loved Shado. His mother had beautiful hair. It nearly killed him when he saw her bald for the first time. Cancer is not the cause of going bald. It's the chemotherapy. He learned that the hard way. That's the only picture frame he has. He has no other pictures of the people he loved: Adeline, Joseph, Shado or Wade. They all brought back bad memories for him.

His cellphone suddenly rings. He looks at the screen. Felicity Smoak. He picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

Silence. Slade frowns, finding it suspicious.

"Hello? Miss Smoak?"

He can hear wheezing and gasping on the other line.

"… _Help me_ ," she says feebly, " _Please. Please help me_."

"Where are you? Felicity, where are you?"

But Felicity did not answer. A small clank was heard but nothing. It was like she dropped her phone.

Luckily, Felicity had a GPS on her cellphone. He managed to hack her cellphone and track her position. He got dressed and asked his limo driver to drive around the city in search for Felicity Smoak. Slade already knows where she's located so it wasn't difficult for him to search for her.

He found her. The limo stops and he gets out with umbrella open in his hand. It's raining profusely. Slade finds Felicity Smoak inside a phone booth, covered in blood and cellphone in hand. He knocks on the glass door in order to get her attention. She doesn't move. She's still as a statue. Her face is drained from colour and her lips are nearly blue. She's unconscious. _What happened to you?_

Slade tries to open the booth but finds it locked. Felicity locked herself in. She's bleeding. She was stabbed. She was attacked. She got stabbed, ran away and locked herself inside the phone booth in order to be safe. Not a bad strategy but she's still bleeding out.

Without thinking twice, Slade elbows the glass forcefully and it shatters to piece. He now has access to Felicity. The driver walks out of the limo and holds the umbrella while Slade covered Felicity with his coat and carried her out of the phone booth, cradling her in his arms. She feels so cold and light-weighted.

Once inside the limo, the limo continues driving back to Merlyn Mansion. He thought of driving her to the hospital but he didn't want to risk it. He didn't see what happened but he knows who the fuck did it. But Slade doesn't know how it happened. The police will interrogate him and ask questions of what he saw. He saw nothing. He simply found Felicity locked inside a phone booth. They'll suspect of him. He can't allow Felicity to bleed out either.

Slade held Felicity close to him. He tried to stop the bleeding but fails miserable. He held her with his right arm around while keeping her head against his chest. He tells the driver to hurry up. He then calls a friend to help.

"Wintergreen, I need your help, please."

He wasn't going to let Felicity die. He didn't want her to die. First Adeline. Then Shado. And now Felicity. He doesn't have much luck with the women. But he's not letting this one go this time. He'll make sure of it.

* * *

 **End of Chapter…I lost count.**

 **So here we go guys. Another chapter of Black Smoak. Is Felicity going to die? You know what, scratch that. That was a stupid question. Of course she's not going to die. But stay put because things are gonna boil between Felicity and Slade. Just stick around and wait and see.**

 **Please leave a comment down below and tell me what you think of this chapter.**


	23. Chapter 23: Fked Up

**Chapter 23: F**ked Up**

 **Sorry about the delay everyone. I'm back. College has been very cruel to me these past few weeks so I didn't have much time to post a new chapter. But now I am back and now that I am on vacation, I will be posting up new chapters for the story Black Smoak as well as for my other stories Overwatch and Black Birds and Thorned Roses. If you haven't read those two. I recommend everyone who's reading Black Smoak to read the other two.**

 ** _Overwatch_** **is another take on Felicity from Season 4. It's a different universe so it's not connected to Black Smoak.**

 ** _Black Birds and Thorned Roses_** **is an LGBT story about Raven from the Teen Titans and Deathstroke's daughter Rose Wilson. I have never made an LGBT story so** ** _Black Birds and Thorned_** **Roses is my first LGBT story. And I'm trying to see how it works out.**

* * *

Slade brought Felicity back to Merlyn Mansion, still carrying her in his arms and blood dripping everywhere. Slade could see her face growing very pale. She was white as a sheet. An old man was waiting by the doorway, wearing glasses and a tie. He ushered Slade to follow him upstairs which he does.

"I thought we would do this in the kitchen," Slade said as he followed the old man up the stairs.

"I thought you said you didn't want anyone knowing she was here," the old man retorted. "I believe the bedroom is the best option we have."

"She's bleeding, Wintergreen. I can't stop the bleeding."

"And that's why you called me," the old man named Wintergreen reminded him.

They opened the door to his bedroom and Slade placed her down on the king-sized bed. His suit was covered in her blood as well as his hands. Wintergreen already had the emergency first aid kit ready and asked Slade to leave the bedroom. Slade didn't want to leave her side though.

"Do you want her to live or not?" He asks sternly. Slade didn't want her to die, so he left the room while Wintergreen got to work.

Slade decided to have his closed washed in the laundry looked like he got dumped with a bucket of pig's blood. But this is Felicity's blood. He went to his bedroom to change clothes. He prayed that Isabel didn't decide to come to Merlyn Mansion. If she found out that Felicity was here, it wasn't going to end well. She would try to kill Felicity while she was still wounded. He dressed in a black sweater and beige trousers. It would be hours till Wintergreen decided to come out and tell him if Felicity Smoak would live or not.

Slade sat around the parlour, waiting impatiently for Wintergreen to give him a feedback. His phone rang. It's Isabel. But Slade decided not to answer. He was not in the mood for her right now.

After almost 6 hours of pacing around the parlour impatiently with his hand gripping around the glass of rum, Wintergreen stepped down the stairs to parlour, cleaning off blood from his hands with a cloth. Blood stained his clothing as well. He reminded Slade of Hannibal Lecter, and he has read the stories of Hannibal Lecter before.

The thought of Felicity brought him back to reality though.

"Felicity?"

Wintergreen pushed back his round glass further to the bridge of his nose and looked up directly at Slade.

"She'll be all right," the old man said, "She'll live. The knife she got stabbed with didn't damage any vital organs or anything that could have killed her but it severed a few arteries which took me time to fix. I had to remove one of her ribs in order to find the severed veins. But she'll be all right. She'll need plenty of rest though. I'm not sure when she'll wake up."

"I hope she's not in a coma," Slade sighed.

"I never said she was," Wintergreen retorted, "but it will take time before she wakes up. I suggest you keep an eye on her while she sleeps. Hydrate her every now and then. Change her bandages every three hours. And once she awakes, give her soup. Don't give her any solid foods or anything heavy for the next twelve hours. Otherwise, she'll vomit all over the place."

"…Thank you, William, for your assistance," Slade stretched out his hand to shake his. As he suspected, William Wintergreen did not shake hands with Slade. He suspected this. Slade and Wintergreen had a sour relationship ever since he returned from the _dead_ and didn't inform anyone he was alive, not even to his son's godfather's brother. William Wintergreen was the brother of the man he killed in Lian Yu, Bill Wintergreen. The man who tortured Oliver Queen. The first Deathstroke.

"I'm not doing this for you, Slade," William said bitterly. He was still angry about what happened to his brother Bill. Slade killed him in Lian Yu.

Slade didn't want to kill Bill. He was his best friend. But he had no choice. The man Slade saw as a best friend and godfather to his son Joey was not the same man anymore. Bill was no longer Bill. How ironic. _This is what Mr. Queen must feel about Shado_ , he thought.

"You needed a doctor for her," the old man continued, "You were foolish not taking that poor girl to a hospital. And I have a good heart, unlike you."

"Her father is still hunting her," Slade said, "The hospital will be the first place he'll look. I had no choice."

"So what's your plan then? Are you intending to keep her here till the police? A prisoner? She won't permit it," the old man said.

That's the thing, Slade could keep her prisoner here in the Merlyn Mansion. He was stronger than her. He had more security than her. If she tried to escape, he would recapture her easily. But he wasn't going to keep her prisoner. Felicity went through a lot tonight, he didn't want to make it worse by suppressing her freedom. Of course, she was obligated to stay till she completely healed.

"No, I'm not going to do that," he said, "not to her."

"You know, I'm actually surprised you really care about this girl," Wintergreen said. "Every time I come here to attend Miss Rochev's wounds, you always wear a sour look in your face."

"Isabel won't stop whining which annoys me," Slade said.

"True. But I'm also betting you like this girl," Wintergreen said. The corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smile.

"What makes you think that way?" he asked.

"I saw the way you were looking at her when you brought her into the mansion," Wintergreen said, "You reacted the same way when Adeline was giving birth to Joseph. You were becoming a nervous wreck, worried about both the baby and Adeline."

"How is Adeline? How's Joey?" Slade asked.

"She's fine. They're both are. Good night, Mr. Wilson. Call me if anything happens."

Wintergreen left after that. Slade returned to his bedroom to keep an eye on Felicity. There were heaps of blood-stained sheets stuffed in the hamper. Felicity laid there on the bed unmoving. He watched her chest slowly rise and fall. She looked so pale. She almost looked dead. He reached out his hand to touch her cheek. She felt so cold and yet she had a duvet covering her to keep warm. Slade decided to turn on the fireplace which made things a bit better.

Injecting her with Mirakuru was the first thing that ran through Slade's mind when he brought her to Merlyn Mansion in order to save her life. But he soon realized it would just make things worse. He didn't know if Felicity would have survived the injection. Even a small dose could kill her. Also, even if she did survive the injection, she wouldn't be happy about knowing she got injected with Mirakuru. It would be the last thing she ever wanted. So he had called Wintergreen for help. Slade is glad he rejected the idea of injecting the Mirakuru.

Slade changed her from her clothing since it's covered in her own blood, putting her one of his shirts and boxers. He could see the stitches where Wintergreen had sewn the stab wound shut and patched it up with gauzes.

"Felicity Smoak," he whispered as he cupped her now warm cheek, "What has that man done to you?"

* * *

Rachel sat abruptly from her bed after hearing a noise outside the bedroom. It wasn't loud enough for the other girls to hear, but it was loud enough for her to hear. She also felt strange mix of emotions: anger, frustration, desperation and fear. She also felt a strange urge of wanting to run out of the orphanage screaming. But those emotions weren't hers.

Curious of who was walking around the orphanage in the middle of the night, Rachel quietly got out of bed and tiptoed out of the room.

 **(Okay, this is how you start a fucking horror movie, kids. Why am I breaking the fourth wall in the middle of the story…Again)**

The hallway was empty. No signs of anyone walking around the hallway. It was dark but not enough for Rachel. She could see just fine.

Again, there was the noise of someone walking but no one in the hallway. It was coming from one of the boy's bathroom.

Cautiously, she paced over to the bathroom and peeked her head through the door where she found someone trying to climb up the high bathroom window. A boy. He wore a black hood and is taller than her. He had a duffle bag slumped over his shoulder. He tossed it out the window and tried to climb out the window again, jumping to grip the edge but failed miserable as his fingers kept slipping from the edge.

"Excuse me," Rachel whispered. The boy jumped and turned around. "What are you doing?"

"Holy fucker, kid," the boy hissed harshly, "You don't scare people like that. It's not cool, at all."

"What are you doing?" she asked again.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to climb out this stupid window," he said, "I don't know why these dumbasses have to make the windows so high up."

"You're leaving?" Rachel asked.

"Yep."

"Why?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe I hate it here. The food stinks. We only have one bathroom. And I have to share a room with a bunch of kids I don't even know. Besides, who the hell is going to adopt a sixteen-year-old?"

Rachel stepped forward and hoped she could convince him to stay. She knew it's not safe out there. But she can't force him either.

"Aren't you afraid that you'll be all alone?" she asked meekly.

"You're cute," he chuckled and attempted to jump again, "Don't worry, kid, I won't be alone. I'm heading to California."

"What's in California?" she asked

"Beaches, warm sun and pretty girls," he said, "Well, you're pretty too but I'm talking about a different type of pretty."

"You mean girls of your age?"

"Exactly." He jumped again but slips off once more.

"But aren't you afraid you'll get kidnapped or murdered?" she asked.

"Why do you care?" he asked harshly. Rachel notices he has green eyes.

"Because I care," Rachel says, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at him sternly, "And I don't think you should be going out there by yourself."

"Well, I'm sixteen…How old are you, by the way?"

"Six."

"Well, I'm sixteen, so I can do whatever the fuck I want and you can't tell me what to do. Unless you want to come with, if that's what you want."

Rachel shook her head in refusal. She didn't want to leave, knowing she had not reason to. She already has someone that loves her. Leaving the orphanage would destroy everything for her. She already has enough trouble with the police ever since they found her at the alley next to her mother's body. Rachel's mouth was covered in blood while her mother laid dead on the floor. The last thing she wants is to become a fugitive of the law and disappoint Felicity.

"I have other things to take care of," she said, "I would if I could. But I can't. Honestly, I don't think I want. I have a friend that needs me."

"Let me give you some advice then, kid," he said as he paced over to her and crouched in front of her, "You got nothing here. You're on your own. Whoever your friend is, you're soon going to realize that it ain't worth it. Look at me. I'm already fucked up as it is. You too. I think you're more fucked up than I am. You're the one who's being accused of killing your mother."

Rachel's eyes widened as he said that.

"Yeah, I know who you are," he nodded, "I know what the people are thinking. But people aren't looking for who really did it or why. They're looking for evidence that _you_ did it. And once they do, you're not staying here for long. You're going to juvenile prison for the rest of your life or worse. You'll end up in Arkham. Trust me when I'm telling you that no one is going to adopt a kid that killed her own mother. So if you want to stay? Stay. You want to come? Come. But you already said you were staying so I can't force you."

"…But you didn't do anything wrong, right?" she whispered as her eyes well up with tears, "Why are _you_ leaving?"

The boy gave her half a smile. "Let's just say…no one is going to adopt a sixteen-year-old boy, not like this…"

He pulls up his left sleeve and Rachel gasps when she sees the skin of his wrist slowly turning into a sickly green colour. Is it some kind of disease? She stares at the greenish skin for a long while before looking back at the boy.

"Like I said, we're all fucked up," he says, "You're not alone in this. See you around, kid."

He returned to the window but pounced through it this time without effort. This left Rachel both shocked and fascinated at the same time. However, she ended up sobbing on the bathroom floor. The things he said hit her hard in her chest. She if she could leave, she would. But she knew she couldn't leave the only place where she felt safe. Her mother would have wanted her to stay safe and never leave, unless she was accompanied.

Felicity was the only company Rachel had. The only person she saw as a friend as well as a mother. She doesn't want that to be ruined if the police decides to take her away to a juvenile prison or a mental asylum. She doesn't want that.

The next morning, the headmistress of the orphanage called out the children and teenagers, asking for someone named Garfield Logan. The caretaker said he disappeared since his bed was empty and all of his stuff was gone. Rachel finally got his name. No one knew where he was, except for Rachel. She decided not to tattletale him and be generous by lying to the headmistress, saying that she didn't know any Garfield Logan. She wasn't lying though. She didn't know any Garfield Logan until now. But the rest was a lie. Garfield Logan ran away and is now heading his way to California.

This was not the first time Rachel lied though…

* * *

Felicity stirred in her sleep. Her stomach hurt. Her body felt sore and heavy. Her lips were chapped. She felt cold. She struggles to sit up and moaned in pain, only to feel a heavy hand slowly and gently push her back down with easy. At first, she thought it was Diggle but when she looked at the person sitting next to her bed, she gasped and immediately dragged herself to the other side of the bed in fear.

"Felicity!" Slade tried to reach for her but she immediately got up from the bed and grabbed a lamp from the nightstand. _Probably not the best idea to point a lamp at a Mirakuru guy_.

"Get away from me!" she snapped while pointing the lamp at him, not that it would do much. She couldn't defend herself with a lamp even if she tried. Slade would break it in seconds.

"Calm yourself, love," he said calmly with his hands raised and walking around the bed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Where the hell am I, Slade?" she asked. Well, that was a stupid question. She was in the Merlyn Mansion. In the master's bedroom. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You were bleeding, Felicity," Slade said.

Felicity remembered what happened last night. Her father. He stabbed her in the stomach. No, she stabbed him in the neck. No, it was both. She squeezed her eyes tightly as her head began to feel fuzzy.

"My father…He stabbed me," she placed her hand to her stomach where she felt it burning and throbbing. "I stabbed him…in the neck. But he wouldn't die…" She opens her eyes to look at Slade. They're welling up in tears and she's shaking in terror. "He won't die. I hit him with a pan…and ran. I was bleeding. I ran. The phone booth. Diggle…I called Diggle. I'm here."

She was speaking incoherently. Slade didn't know she meant to call Diggle for help, not him. What Felicity didn't know was that both Diggle's phone number and Slade's number were similar, and her eyes went blurry that night. She didn't know she called Slade instead of Diggle. And she's betting Diggle didn't even know she wasn't even home. Her hands shook at the realization. Her father tried to kill her in her apartment. He stabbed her.

Slade simply stared at her and proceeded to try to get closer to her. Felicity backed up till her back was against the wall.

"He…he won't…he won't die," she stammered. The lamp slipped off from her hands and she slumped on the floor unconscious again.

* * *

 **Hey guys. Again, sorry about the delay btu I promise I will post more of Black Smoak now that I'm vacation. Sorry for the grammatical errors. I've been a bit sloppy these days so I apologize if there's a part of this chapter that doesn't make any sense to you.**

 **Please follow my story and leave a comment down below and tell me what you think of this chapter**


	24. Chapter 24: Tide

Chapter 24: Tide

 _"_ _Are you sure this is where your brother dumped the body?" Adeline yelled through the sound of crashing waves as she and Slade headed over to the docks where he and his brother Wade dumped the dead body into the ocean. The wind blew strong, making Adeline's soft brown hair fly around her face and it made Slade's hair get into his eyes which he frequently brushed off. It was getting on his nerves._

 _"_ _Actually, I kicked it!" Slade shouted, "but yeah, this is the place. The weather was like this three days ago when we dumped the body."_

 _"_ _Then it couldn't have gone far!" Adeline shouted, "if the weather was like this three days ago, it's most like to be washed up on the shore somewhere."_

 _"_ _How would you know!?" Slade asked. The docks shook a bit. He just wanted to get off the dock before the waves took them into the ocean._

 _"_ _I saw it on TV!" she said, "Come on!"_

 _The dock suddenly gave in to the waves. It broke. And both Adeline and Slade fell into the waters screaming as the waves were crashing down on them._

* * *

Slade was playing the piano in the music room a few rooms away from him. Music would take his mind off things. _It cleanses the mind_ , Adeline used to say. He didn't know how to play the piano when he was a kid or a teenager. Adeline was the one who taught how to play the piano when they were together. He would get frustrated at first but with a few more practices, he finally got the hang of it. Tchaikovsky was the most difficult for him. Beethoven was a piece of cake to him. Still, even playing the piano didn't make him feel any better. He was still bitter about what happened to Felicity.

He simply wanted to find her father and show him hell looks like in the human world. Numerous punishments appeared in his head. Very great ideas to punish Colton Smoak before ending him. Of course, he decided to stay put and wait for Felicity to wake up before deciding to find Colton. The situation made him remind of the times with Adeline. How he nearly endangered her life and what he had to do to get Wade off their asses. It was a childhood nightmare to him. He still remembered the night they went to find the body of the girl his brother raped and killed. How the waves made the docks break and they both fell into the ocean. How they both nearly drowned as the waves crashed down to them relentlessly and mercilessly. The darkness of the water where he couldn't see anything nor could he see Adeline in the water. It was that very moment where he thought he was going to die and would end up in the ocean like the girl Wade killed.

And yet here he was, alive and playing the piano to calm his nerves.

"Howdy stranger, fancy meeting you here," Felicity said as she was standing in the middle of the doorway. Slade immediately stopped playing and turned to look at her. She out of bed and leaning against the doorframe, wearing one of his shirts and black boxers. He couldn't find any suitable clothes. He thought of giving her some of Isabel's clothes but he wasn't going to risk letting Isabel know that one of her clothes had gone missing. "You play the piano?" Felicity frowned at him when she asked that.

"Yes," he said bluntly before playing it again, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I _am_ a bit tired," her voice sounded strained and cracked, "but I'm also tired of sleeping. Wow, meta."

Slade did not look at her as he continued playing. It was difficult for him to look at her like that: pale, bruised, wounded and barely clothed. He can tell she wasn't wearing a bra. He was the one who kept changing her bandages and washing the blood off her. But seeing her that way always made him have thoughts of how that would have happened in other circumstances and in a different situation, one he did not want to think about.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked. She asked that, feeling like she was in trouble. That made Slade sigh, and stopped playing the piano. He got up and walked over to her.

"Let's get you something to eat," he said.

"You didn't answer my question," she said, her brow furrowing.

"I'm not mad at you," he said gruffly and offered his hand to take, "Come."

Felicity took his hand and Slade led her back to his bedroom. She couldn't be in the kitchen in her state. She protested at firs but then complied when Slade told her he would bring her breakfast in minute.

He returned to the bedroom with a bowl of soup for her as well as a glass of orange juice. Wintergreen had strictly said no solid foods when her awake. She needed to be fed with liquids. Soup and orange juice was as close as he could find for breakfast. He placed it on the nightstand near Felicity.

"Thank you," she said and pursed her lips before taking the bowl in her hands. Chicken noodle soup, "How long was I unconscious?"

"…Three days," he said. Felicity's eyes widened.

"Three days? I've been unconscious for three days?" she said, "Oh my God. Oh my God. It's Wednesday. Diggle must going nuts looking for me. What…What happened? How did I get here?"

 _She doesn't remember_ , Slade thought. She didn't remember waking up in panic and nearly throwing the lamp at him.

"You called me, Miss Smoak," he said. He sat on a chair next to her bed.

"But…No offense, but I was trying to call Diggle," she said.

"You must have called me by mistake then," he confirmed. She was trying to call Mr. Diggle, not him. "He and I unfortunately have similar phone numbers. When you see him, tell him to consider changing it."

"You change it then," she snapped and put a hand to her temple, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. That was awful."

"You're still in pain, I imagine," he assumed.

"More like sore and my head hurts," she complained, "I think I may need a few painkillers or an ice pack. I also need a phone to call Diggle. He must be freaking out right now. I don't know how many missed calls I have from him."

"Ten to be exact," he informed. Felicity looked at him wide-eyed, "Also five unanswered messages. He is very concerned about you."

Felicity's expression turned irritant. "And when were you going to tell me this?"

"I thought it wouldn't be important," Slade said coldly. He then stood up from his seat. "I'll let you speak to him for a moment."

"How long will you be keeping me here?" she asked. She was afraid Slade would be keeping her imprisoned in his bedroom at least just until Oliver's trial is over. Slade would do anything to keep Oliver from getting out of jail, even if it meant keeping his witness captive. Felicity still didn't trust Slade. He was already testifying against Oliver Queen and so was Isabel Rochev. There was a good chance Slade would keep Felicity imprisoned in the Merlyn Mansion until trial was over.

"Until you're healed, love," he said.

"You mean, you're not keeping me, here?" Felicity sounded surprised when Slade said that. Now she felt confused. "You know that I'm going to testify in Oliver's favour, right?"

"Yes," Slade nodded as he opened one of the drawers to his dresser and took out Felicity's cellphone. "So?"

"Are you going to stop me from doing that?" she asked. Why am I asking that?

"Why should I?" Slade tossed the phone onto the bed in front of her, "It is only fair. Besides, I do not wish to raise suspicion if the police department find out you're missing. I see no use in keeping you captive. I shall return. I need to call a friend. Do not leave this bedroom."

He walked out of the bedroom, leaving Felicity alone and dumbfounded. Felicity blinked before picking up the phone from the bed. She looked at her state of fashion. She was wearing one of Slade's formal dress shirts and black boxers. She blushed, thinking that Slade had seen her naked while her clothes had been changed. She took a whiff at the shirt. It smelled like he used it. Her stomach burned and throbbing. It ached every time she sat up or down. Her head hurt as well.

She got up from the bed with the phone in her hands and headed over to the bathroom.

She was surprised to find the bathroom large and roomy with a double-vanity, a bathtub, a closet to store towels and other bath objects and a shower surrounded by a black-tiled box. It looked like something out of the TV show _Doctor Who_.

Felicity turned to the mirror above the vanity. She could see the dried cut and purple bruise on the top of her temple where she hit her head against the countertop back at her apartment during her struggle against her father. _No wonder it hurts_. She unbuttoned the buttons of the shirt and opened it up. She wasn't wearing a bra. _Surprise, surprise_ , Felicity thought sarcastically since she knew she wasn't wearing a bra when she got attacked by her father. _When am I going to learn to wear a freaking bra?_ But what drew most of her attention was the amount of gauzes and bandages patching up her stomach.

She was about to peel them off to see how bad her wound was when Slade appeared walking into the bathroom and she immediately covered her body with the unbuttoned shirt.

"I was afraid you disobeyed me," he said, "If you even dare try to remove those bandages, I _will_ hit you."

"Did you do this?" she asked, referring to the bandages. She ignored his threats, knowing they were faulty.

"A friend of mine," he explained, "I called him, informing him of your awakening. He'll be here in a few minutes so I suggest you call your friend Diggle before he arrives."

She nodded in agreement and dialled his phone number, the correct one.

* * *

"What!? You're where?" Diggle asked when Felicity called him. He was right outside her apartment. Her place was crowded with policemen and investigators, including Detective Lance. Diggle had gone to her apartment to see if she was all right since he hadn't heard from her for three days, only to find the door open and her home completely empty. There were signs of damage in the house. Broken things here and there. And there was blood. But no signs of Felicity or anyone else for that matter. He tried calling her phone but she wouldn't pick up. So he called the SCPD to have the place investigated.

" _I'm with Slade_ ," she informed him. Diggle's eyes widened. He had already imagined the worse. This was worse. He had already imagined her tied somewhere with Slade pointing a gun at her head while she spoke on the phone. " _And don't worry, I'm safe. He didn't hurt me_."

"What's with all the blood then?" he asked. There was a lot of blood in the apartment.

" _My father attacked me_ ," she said, " _He stabbed me in the stomach. But I'm fine. Slade took care of it_."

"Where are you?" he asked. He couldn't believe she was with Slade and that she was _fine_ and _safe_. Those were not the words anyone would use when around with Slade.

" _The Merlyn Mansion_ ," she said, " _I really don't want you sending the police here to get me, by the way. I promise you Slade didn't do anything to me so I'm okay_."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

" _Yes_ ," she assured. " _Could you also do me a favour?_ "

"Sure," he said.

" _Is my neighbour's cat there?_ " she asked with concern, " _Is Rusty still alive?_ "

"Felicity, you almost got killed and you're worried about some damn cat," Diggle snapped.

" _Trust me, if it weren't for the_ _ **damn**_ _cat, I wouldn't be here right now_ ," she said, "Please find him."

"Fine," Diggle sighs, "I'll go look for him. Just stay put. Okay, Felicity?"

" _Thank you, Diggle_ ," she says, " _Tell Detective Lance I'm fine. I'll see you soon, Dig._ "

The phone was hung up. Diggle sighed. Damn it. She's with Slade, a dangerous man with Mirakuru that can split you in half in seconds. Diggle couldn't imagine her in the care of the madman. Slade wanted to kill everyone Oliver loved. Now he had Felicity in his house, someone dearly close to Oliver. Diggle was scared for her.

He heard meowing nearby. He looked around and found an orange-striped tabby cat limping behind a shrub with a cuts on its fur and its eyes were red. It meowed at Diggle.

"So, you're Rusty," he said, "You must be the cat Felicity's been talking about."

At the sound of Felicity's name, it meowed again and quickly rubbed his head against Diggle's leg. Diggle picked him up and cradled him.

Detective Lance stepped out of the apartment to meet with Diggle.

"Where did the cat come from?" Lance asked.

"Don't ask," Diggle said, "Did you find anything in there?"

"Well, we found a bloody knife, possibly Felicity's blood," he said, "And there's a lot of blood in there. The door didn't look like it was forced open. It's possible she may have allowed Colton Smoak to enter the apartment."

"So, you know who might have done it?"

"Look, I'm not supposed to make any conclusion until we have some analysis done but I think it _was_ Colton Smoak," Lance theorized.

"Then I doubt Felicity would have let that bastard inside the house, unless the man can walk through walls," Diggle said, "I got a phone call from Felicity. She says she's okay."

"Well, that's good news, right?" Lance said. Diggle knew he was having trouble focusing because of what happened to Sara. It was hard for Diggle too. It was hard for everyone, including for Oliver. He's the one rotting in jail for something he didn't do and the guilt he felt for Sara was eating him alive.

"Yes, but the bad news is that she's with Slade Wilson right now," he said.

"Ah, shit," Detective Lance groaned. "Hey, look at the cat's paws."

They both noticed the cat's paws and claws with covered in blood and had a few tissues of skin in them.

* * *

"All right now, Miss Smoak, I need you to take a few deep breaths," William Wintergreen said as he pressed the cold part of the stethoscope against Felicity's chest. Felicity obeyed and took a few deep breaths, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Slade watched with his back reclined against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest.

Slade watched how pale Felicity looked right now. He lips were still chapped and there were dark circles around her eyes. Exhaustion. Stress. Fear. He contemplated on her legs. They were also pale and almost as thin as her arms. He always thought Isabel's legs were skinny.

"Good, very good," the old man said, "You have a strong heartbeat, Miss Smoak."

"Um, thank you," Felicity thanked him awkwardly.

"You're welcome," he said, "Of course, you're breathing is a little bit off. You're wheezing a lot in there. You need an inhaler and a few pills."

"Do I really need one?" Felicity hadn't had her inhaler for years now and didn't think she needed one anymore.

"Yes, you do," Slade spoke up before Wintergreen could, "I think you need one."

"I shall purchase one at the pharmacy and be back dinner," Wintergreen put away the stethoscope in his First Aid Kit, "So far, everything is fine. Your wounds are beginning to heal. The stitches will be removed in a matter of two weeks. What Slade needs to do is keep changing the bandages every few hours and you won't an infection. Are we clear?"

"Yes," Both Slade and Felicity said at the same time. She looked at Slade uncomfortably. He had to look away when Felicity removed the paper shirt and slipped on a black sweater. He had already seen enough. He didn't need to see anymore.

"But Mr. Wintergreen, what about the cut on my head?" she brought up. "My head hurts and there's a huge bump on my head."

"Yes, I've noticed," the old man said, "You might need to put some ice there. You suffered quite a hit there. I just hope it's not a concussion. We'll have to wait and see. Of course, if Slade would allow you to go to a hospital we might not need to wait to find out."

"I can't risk that," Slade said, earning a glare from the old man and a concerned look from Felicity.

"Then, you're going to have to deal with the consequences of your own negligence, Wilson," the old man hissed at him.

"Could you two please stop arguing about me and pretending I'm not here, that's kind of annoying and giving me a headache," she said, "I need rest."

Wintergreen sighed. "She's right. She needs rest. I'll be back soon with the needed medication."

An hour after William Wintergreen left Merlyn Mansion, Felicity decided to take a shower in that black tiled box of his. It had at least four showerheads at each side. _Wow, Slade_. She didn't wonder why he had four showerheads if he only needed one. That was just a waste of money. She removed her sweater and boxers. They weren't really hers. They were Slade's. She felt embarrassed wearing his clothes at the same time flattered.

She walked in. The shower was big enough to fit in at least twelve more people or more. _That would be a bit too much though_. She closed the glass door behind hand and turned on one of the showerheads at the other side of the black box. She soon noticed that the shower's walls was one-way glassed. The outside was black tiles while inside is transparent glass. She could see the outside of the shower but no one can see inside the shower.

She then saw Slade enter the bathroom. Her eyes widened when she saw him removing his black tie and coat. Oh shit. Does he know I'm in here? She watched him remove his shirt and putting them down on the vanity along with his coat and tie. He was a lot brawnier than Oliver. She had seen Oliver without a shirt before. But seen Slade that way was kind of new to her. She immediately turned away when Slade was unbuckling his pants and pulling them.

"I'm in the shower, you know!" Felicity gasped.

"Of course, you are," he said, "It doesn't bother me."

"Can you at least wait till I'm done!?" Felicity wrapped her arms around her chest, "I'll appreciate if I don't see your junk."

"Junk? Is that what they're calling it these day?" Slade chuckled, "Usually the correct term would be _phallus_."

"Well, right now, they call it junk or dick," she immediately face-palmed herself for saying that. _Why am I talking about dicks with this dick?_

"Besides, I have the urge to take a shower just as much as you do," he said and pointed out, "Also, this is my house so I may do as I please."

She heard the glass door open and close. Felicity's breath got caught in her throat and her body began to tremble. She hoped Slade didn't notice.

"I'll be over here, if it doesn't trouble you," she heard him say and she closed her eyes in relief when she heard one of the other showerheads turn on.

Felicity looked around for any soaps she could use to wash her body. She still smelled of her own blood. And there was another unpleasant smell that happened when she hadn't had a bath for three days. Unfortunately, she couldn't find any soaps nor could she find any shampoo. _The hell?_

"Um, Slade, where are the soaps, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Forgive me if I forgot to provide you one," he said, "Here."

 _Does he really expect for me to go over there where I can clearly see his dick and ass?_ It wasn't the first time Felicity saw a dick before but she sure didn't want to see Slade's dick. _Why the hell am I thinking about his dick or dicks in general? I have sick mind right now_.

"I'm not going over there, if that's what you're thinking," she said and casually dipped her head in the hot rain. She felt glad of a hot shower. She was so cold she couldn't bare it any longer.

"Then I'll hand it over to you" he said. Felicity heard him walking towards her and her eyes widened. She did not dare turn to look at him. She blushed shamefully, knowing that he can see her ass. She's just glad he couldn't see her breasts or the _other part_.

"Don't you dare come any closer," she warned him, "or I will scream and you know what happens when I scream."

"Do you really think I care," he said, "I'll knock you out ten seconds after you scream. There's no point to it, love. I can do whatever I like. But I won't."

She felt his hand take hers and handed over the soap. She tense since he was already standing behind her. _Please don't hurt me_. _Please don't hurt me_. He then went back to his showerhead. He did not say anything else to Felicity. She suspected she was mad at her, probably because of what happened at Queens Consolidated when she hit him in the face with a stapler.

"Are you…?" she asked but stopped herself before she could even finish her sentence.

"Am I what?"

"Are you…mad at me?" she dared herself to ask.

"Why would I be mad at you, Miss Smoak?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Well, you barely spoke a word to me and…I hit you with a stapler," she reminded him. _Why do I even bring it up?_ The stapler part should have been left out. "Which kind of explains why you're testifying against Oliver ―?"

She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes but was too late from stopping herself as she spoke Oliver's name. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and was turned to face the man in front of her. She kept her eyes locked with his remaining, trying not to tempt herself looking below. She didn't feel comfortable himself this close with his hand on her bare shoulder. It felt invading and violating.

"Where did you get that bullshit about me testifying against Oliver Queen just because you hit me in the face with a stapler?" he asked sternly. Felicity could still see a minor cut on the bridge of his nose where she hit him.

"Um, Diggle called me before my father attacked me," she gulped, "He said you'd be testifying against Oliver Queen on Friday, along with Isabel. The rest was something I guessed in my head."

The hold on her bare shoulder tightened and Felicity clenched her fist and her body tensed nervously. She was afraid Slade would injure her more than was now.

"Let me make it clear to you then, Miss Smoak," he said, "My testimony against Oliver Queen has nothing to do with you. I am not angry with you. I actually feel ashamed."

"Ashamed?" Felicity looked at him in confusion. "For what?"

Slade then looked down at her body. Felicity crossed her arms over her chest and was about to slap him when he pointed at her bandages.

"Why are you bathing with the bandages on?" he frowned and shook his head in deception, "You're not supposed to do that. You got them all soaked."

"Sorry if I didn't get the memo then," she said awkwardly.

"Allow me ―."

"Hey, whoa, no," she snaps and pushed him back slightly. _I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I just touched him like that_. She almost forgot that Slade wasn't wearing any clothes and was taking a shower just as she was. "I have a very strict limit of no touching, okay? I've already had a bad night, I don't need you touching me."

 _No, just didn't like being touched by your father_. Slade was a whole different story. In the back of her mind, she actually enjoyed the way he was touching her back at Queens Consolidate, before she freaked out on him, of course. He did not force her to stay at Queens Consolidated when she walked into the elevator. He could have forced her. In fact, he would have done worse. But he didn't. He let her leave, knowing how panicked she looked. He did went a bit hasty with her but he didn't force himself on her. He could have done that as well and right now since they're both naked in the shower or when she was unconscious for three days. But he didn't do anything to her. And he probably wouldn't do anything to her now, especially with the stitch on her stomach.

She was worrying too much. Too paranoid.

"I ― I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to do that. That was…bad."

Slade simply smiled at her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Felicity."

Felicity gave Slade a nod of approval and stayed still as he peeled off the bandages from her. The relief of having those blasted things removed was great for her. They were already getting on her nerves. Plus, they were itching her skin. Now, I could see her wound. William Wintergreen wouldn't let her look at it. Now she could see it… _Okay, now that is just nasty_. _He just played surgeon on me and now I felt like female Frankenstein with my wound stitched up and stapled_.

He asked her if she could turn around for a moment which she did. Felicity didn't feel comfortable about it though. She flinched when she felt his on her shoulder and her body tensed again. The inside of her stomach twisted and turned when he suddenly began to wash her. He said that if she wasn't careful, Felicity could easily hurt herself. She knew that he meant well but she was not some fragile flower. Still, Felicity let him do it.

It was strange having him touch her like this. So gentle. She never felt comfortable being with a man, not even with Cooper. She did have sex with Cooper a lot but she always felt squeamish at first. Slade wasn't really touching her, just washing off the stench of blood she had on her body. She still had a few blood-stains here and there. She smiled shyly. Of course, he couldn't see her smile since he stood behind her. Again, she still felt uncomfortable since they were both naked and Slade standing behind her.

He washed her shoulders, her waist, her arms, neck, thighs and hipbone but didn't go near her more private areas, knowing that she could snap again anytime soon.

Felicity was aware of what he was doing and didn't try to move away from him. She knew he wasn't going to hurt her the way her father would want to.

"Is it too late to say how sorry I am for hitting you in the face with a stapler?" she giggles out the question.

"Finding the right moment to apologize," he chuckled as he washed the back of her shoulder-blades, "Unfortunately, there will never be a good time for apologies. It is only now. My wife once told me that there will never exist a good moment to apologize or to mention bad news or to tell the truth. But no, Miss Smoak, you're not late."

"You have a wife," she said. She seemed a bit surprised he was still married.

" _Had_ a wife," he said a bit more grimly, "She thinks me dead and so does my son Joe. She remarried and Joe was raised by his stepfather. You don't have any idea how depressing that is, watching the people you love think you're dead and baring to watch them move on with their lives without me."

"You could have just told them you were alive once you got off the island, you know?" she suggested.

"Felicity Smoak, I've spent my time on the island far longer than Mr. Queen did," he said, "And if you're wondering how long? Joseph is 16 now. I've been trapped on Lian Yu since he was 4."

"12 years on Lian Yu. That's not good then."

"Imagine if they see me alive right now," he said, "Adeline would be devastated. Joseph will think I abandoned him and will never forgive me. I've already suffered enough."

"Is it because of ―."

"Don't you dare say her name, Miss Smoak!" he snapped.

Felicity gasped when he grabbed her by the upper arm and forcefully spun her to face him. The grasp on her was achingly tight, his fingers digging into her flesh. Felicity began to shake. She was too scared too even scream. She was afraid Slade would hurt her now for almost mentioning Shado's name. And they were having a new conversation. _I just ruined it_. The way he was looking at her was menacing and angry. She whimpered and tried to remove his hand away from him.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "Please, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad. Please, you're hurting my arm."

He didn't actually notice he was bruising her arm until she mentioned it and immediately released her. He watched rub her arm to ease the pain.

"You really need to control your temper, Slade," she said.

He didn't say anything to her. He simply watched her. During his nights, he was tormented by three women. Adeline. Shado. And Isabel. And now Felicity. Slade didn't love Isabel the same way he loved Adeline and Shado but Felicity was different. She was not so unattractive. She was actually quite lovely. But seeing her the way he was seeing her now, it was something else. And no, not because she was naked. Well, it did seem appealing to him but it was an excuse for he didn't what to make of her. Intelligent. Beautiful. Cunning. Quick-thinker. Defiant. Cautious. And now Afraid. Slade didn't want her to be afraid of him.

Felicity looked up at him after noticing he wouldn't stop staring at her. She frowned at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

That question brought him back to reality. He was thinking a lot of things. He was just about to act on grabbing her and kissing her but the question brought him back to reality. It was a pity he couldn't touch her without her consent.

"Nothing is wrong," he said with a smile and touched her cheek, "Finish your shower. I'll be over here if you need me."

He did so and continued bathing. Felicity returned to her shower but gave a few glances towards him.

* * *

 _Wave after wave, Slade was being pushed back down into the dark waters of the ocean. He couldn't see Adeline anywhere. It was too dark. He can't even see his own hands. Every time he swam back up into the surface for oxygen, he would be pushed back down by the crashing waves. He couldn't breathe and thought he was going to die drowning in the ocean. He and Adeline were going to join the corpse his brother killed._

 _But he then felt a hand grab him by the wrist and pull him up before everything around him went black._

 _Once he woke up, he found himself on the shore, sputtering and coughing up salt water from his nose and mouth and sand sprinkled on his lips. He realized that he was lying face-down. The waves were now calm and the storm had ceased. He remembered showing Adeline where he and Wade pushed the body before the dock broke and they both fell into the ocean._ ** _Adeline_** _._

 _"_ _Adeline?" Slade pushed himself back up from the damp sand, bringing some caked in his fingers. His clothes were drenched, heavy and clamped cold around him. He staggered onto his feet and looked around the beach for any signs of Adeline Kane. "Adeline?"_

 _ **Did she pull me up from the waters?**_

 _"_ _Adeline!"_

 _He walked around the shore for a couple of minutes before he finally found Adeline, lying on the shore on her back. Her face was pale and her lips were pale blue. Gasping, Slade rushed over to her body and kneeled next to her._

 _"_ _Adeline?" He shook her to wake her up but her body didn't respond, "Adeline, wake up." Slade pressed his ear to her chest. He couldn't hear her heart beat. "Adeline? Adeline!…Addie!"_


	25. Chapter 25: Black Eyes

**Well, here you have it. The next chapter to _Black Smoak_. Things are going to get a little bit sweet for Felicity and Slade. **

**Warning: this chapter _will_ contain sexual content. **

**Enjoy**

* * *

Felicity now fought with Slade over the bed space. Indeed, he let her sleep alone in his bedroom because she was injured but it didn't meant that she could be territorial. It was his house. Slade wanted to sleep in his room and of course, he was going to allow Felicity sleep on his bed. He would keep his distance from her if it made her comfortable. The reason why he didn't want to put her in the guest bedroom is because of Isabel. He didn't want Isabel to find out about Felicity being here in Merlyn Mansion. However, Felicity objected at the idea of sleeping in the same bed with him. She was still stubborn as always.

After a while arguing, Felicity ended up losing the fight. She was disappointed because she never lost an argument. It was unfair. So Slade was on the bed...and Felicity was on the floor. It was the middle of the night. Slade was flipping the channels on the TV, the only thing illuminating the darkened room. There was nothing on TV. Just the same channels.

"Why don't you put on Netflix?" Felicity asked him, already getting tired of him changing the channels, "There's bound to be something on Netflix to watch. If you have Netflix that is. Do you even know what Netflix is?"

"I _know_ what it is. Who has the remote here though?" Slade was already getting tired of bickering with her but he was also getting tired of flipping channels as well. Sighing, he turned on Netflix and searched for anything to watch. "Do you watch this show called _Walking Dead_?"

"You've never seen _The Walking Dead_ before?" she asked in surprise.

"I didn't have a TV or cable on Lian Yu," he said bluntly.

"Oh right, sorry," she apologized but snickered.

"Is there something you find funny?" Slade asked.

"I just find it funny that you have to catch with everything that happened in twelve years," she giggled, "You have to watch a lot of good TV shows that aired while you were gone."

"I do not see how that is funny, Miss Smoak."

Felicity gulped. It seemed that his sense of humour had a limit.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "Forget I said that. I should have just kept my mouth shut. Just put the show on and forget I said that."

Without another word, Slade put on _The Walking Dead_ show Felicity recommended him. Slade noticed that Felicity was not in favour of monster movies. He looked over the bed and saw her covering her eyes at each scary part of the show where the zombies now called Walkers were eating the victims.

"You're being pathetic down there, you know that, right?" he chuckled.

"Haha, very funny," Felicity said, "Okay, yeah, nope. You win. I am so not sleeping on the floor tonight. Move over."

Still laughing, Slade moved to the other side of the bed and Felicity jumped on the bed, quickly hiding herself under the bedspread. She always forgot how much she hated zombie movies. It always gave her nightmares. _Why the fuck did I recommend that to him?_

Felicity never liked zombie movies. She remembered her father putting them on a lot and scaring the shit of her. She would be waking up in the middle of the night crying and would hide under the bed with her Raggedy Anna doll. She remembered hearing her father imitating the zombie sounds to scare her, to torment her. It worked. Evelyn would kick him out of the house for the many times Colton tormented Felicity.

 _Blood. So much blood_. Felicity remembered seeing the blood dripping down her mother's wrists. The knife in her hands. _Blood_. _So much blood_. " _Mommy killed herself_ ," she remembered saying to the 9-1-1 call. " _Mommy killed herself_." It kept echoing inside her head. " _Mommy killed herself. Mommy killed herself. Mommy killed herself_. YOU KILLED HER."

"Miss Smoak."

Felicity gasped when she heard Slade's voice. She realized her hands were covering her ears to block her thoughts out and tears streamed down her cheeks. She was shaking, a lot. Slade was staring at her with concern.

"I'm turning off the TV," he said but Felicity immediately objected.

"No, just put on something else," Felicity took a few deep breaths. Slade nodded before putting on _The Twilight Zone_. It was a more decent show to watch. Felicity liked _The Twilight Zone_. It was a lot entertaining than The Walking Dead.

"I'm sorry if that uneased you," Slade apologized.

 _Blood_. _So much blood_. _"Mommy tried to kill herself."_ Raggedy Ann.

"No, it's not you Slade," Felicity shook her head, "I – I really need to go to sleep. Maybe it might calm me down. W-where are my pills?"

"Your pills?" Slade stood up from the bed and walked over to his dresser. Slade was wearing his boxers and white wife-beaters. "You mean, Hypnocil? Pills that are dream suppressers?" He looked over at Felicity's shocked face. "I've researched about Hypnocil. I know why you're taking them. I am just concerned about the side effects." He took out the pills from his dresser and made them rattle in his hands.

"I'm handling it," she stammered, "Please give them back. I really need them."

"Of course, love," Slade nodded before tossing the pills onto the bed. She took two of them before putting them on the nightstand next to her. She was already feeling the effects of the medication taking over her.

She laid back down on the bed. She didn't even bother brushing her teeth. She just wanted to sleep without having nightmares where her father would attack her and she would never wake up again. Slade had placed a pillow between them before lying back down on the bed himself. Felicity looked at the yellow pillow before looking over at Slade.

"You don't have to do that, you know," she said.

"I thought it might make you feel more comfortable," Slade figured.

"…I'm sorry for hitting you in the face like that, Slade," she apologized again.

"It's all right," he said while looking at the ceiling. "I know you were too afraid. I probably scared you."

"…Actually, it's not you I was scared of, Slade," she admitted for once in her life, "It's my father I'm scared of. He…used to touch me a lot when I was a little girl. He had a very particular taste for children but he considered me as his favourite, even at my age now. Most pedophiliacs lose interests when the child becomes of age. My father was one of those people but he never lost interest in me. Even now, he wants me for himself and doesn't want anyone getting in his way, not even you. Now I'm too scared to be touched by another man. I was still when I had my first time with Cooper. He was my boyfriend before he...He's gonna come after you next, you know that, do you?"

Slade simply stared at her with a pitiful eye. A tear ran down her cheek and he reached a hand to wipe it away. She looked so wounded. So sad. So fragile. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to kiss her head. But kept his distance in order not to scare her.

"I know," he sighed. Sara Lance was not the last victim. There would be more.

Felicity then offered him the Hypnocil pills. At first Slade refused. He didn't think he needed them. But Felicity insisted, almost pleadingly.

"Do it for me, please," she begged, "I don't think I can sleep without thinking that you might die tonight in your sleep."

"All right," Slade finally complied and took the Hypnocil pills even if didn't want to. What made it frustrating was that none of them took water to drink down the pills. "…I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Miss Smoak."

"You know, you surprise me, Slade," she said, "First, you came here to Starling City to torture Oliver by taking away the people he loves. You first kidnapped Thea. You took away his company. And then you killed Moira which was a whole new level of low if you ask me."

"Oh, Felicity Smoak, you have no idea how far I would have gone," Slade continued saying. "I would have done a lot worse. Believe me. Killing Moira was a regretful decision but I feel I gave her an act of mercy by simply stabbing her in the heart instead of torturing her and Thea in front of Oliver. I also wanted to hurt you as well to hurt Oliver."

"And yet here I am in bed with you…Well, not _with you_ with you. I mean, lying down next to you. Urgh, why can't I shut up for once in my life.?" She placed her hands to her face and groaned in embarrassment. Slade simply chuckled in amusement. "We should probably get some sleep. You don't mind leaving the TV on, right? I sometimes sleep better when the TV is one. I like hearing people talking on that little magic box."

"Very well then," he smiled.

 _Of course, I still might not get much sleep tonight_ , she thought to herself as she curled up in a ball and turned her back on him. She almost brought up the incident with her boyfriend Cooper Seldom. She loved him. She almost couldn't believe he would do something like that to avoid trial. That was such a cowardly thing to do. And it wasn't the fact he killed himself but it was the way he killed him. People say that he hanged himself in the prison but Felicity knew the truth. She saw him across the glass. Cooper abandoned her just like her mother did. _It should have been me_.

She was never afraid of being touched by Cooper, only when it was her first time. She wasn't afraid of being hugged by Oliver or Diggle. Of course, she was a little afraid of being touched by Count Vertigo when he kidnapped her. But the fear she felt towards the Count was nothing compared to the fear she felt towards her father. All the memories she kept having of him harassing her kept interfering with her work and lifestyle. She could no longer work properly as the Team Arrow's computer girl or the department's I.T. girl. She didn't even report sick. _I'm so going to get fired for this_.

She didn't want to be scared of Slade but she already was. Not because it was Slade, but it was because of her father, because of what he might do to her and Slade. She didn't want to have that feeling anymore. She didn't want to be scared. Shuddering, she used her trembling hands to pull down the boxers Slade gave her. She wasn't wearing anything under them. She would probably regret her decision.

Slade had removed his eye-patch, exposing his grotesque gasping socket that looked like it got spooned out like a jack-o-lantern, and closed his eye. It didn't take more than 30 seconds when felt the bed shift and heard footsteps walk around his bed. She felt a presence next to his bed and opened his eye to see Felicity standing next to his bed. She looked anxious, with her arms cross. And Slade immediately noticed that she was not wearing the boxers he gave her. She stood half-naked before him.

"May I ask what the meaning of this is?" he groaned as he sat up from the bed.

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you," she said while looking down at the floor, her voice shaking, "But I can't sleep. I don't think I want to sleep. I'm too scared to even close my eyes. And I think I might be doing the dumbest decision of my entire life."

"Felicity, I don't want to force you to ―."

"That's the thing, Slade, you're not forcing me. I'm the one deciding. And I am making a very dumb decision I'll probably regret later. But I have to."

"Are you certain that this is what you want?" he asked her. He wasn't going to do her the favour if she wasn't sure. And he wasn't going to force her. He almost did in the shower if it weren't for his self-control. But Felicity was now asking for it.

"No, I'm not. I'm scared. I'm scared of being touched. I have never been so scared in my entire life. And I don't want to be scared anymore. So, if you could please…Please, Slade."

Slade didn't want it to be like this. He thought it would be different, more pleasant and in different circumstances. Felicity didn't want it to be this way either.

"I won't hurt you, Felicity," he promised her before placing his hands on her bare hips. Felicity stiffened and her breath got caught in her throat. He unbuttoned the two bottom button of the shirt first and placed his lips below he bellybutton.

"I can't sleep ― Oh," she moaned when Slade began to kiss her there, the stumbles of his goatee scratching the skin below her bellybutton, making her hiss and shudder. Tears were threatening to stream down from her eyes but she resisted. Slade used his hands to slowly slide his hands up and down her thighs to help her relax and stopped them to her hips to keep her in place.

He stood up, his hands still on her hands and nestled his face into her neck. She leaned back her head and sighed. His hands moved up to remove the remained buttons of the shirt and slowly slid it off her till it dropped to the floor. He continued kissing her neck gently and held her body to him, pressing her chest against his. His kisses trailed down her collarbone to her breasts. Felicity kept hissing, sighing and moaning.

He returned back up to kiss her on the neck again before looking at her in the eye.

"Forgive me," he said before grabbing her and tossed her on the bed.

He crawled over her, careful not tear open her stitches. Felicity stared up at Slade with concerned eyes. She was afraid it would hurt her. But she didn't move from under him. He kissed her on the head before sitting up to remove his wife-beater. Felicity noticed he was covered in scars, a lot more than Oliver did. Burns. Stab wounds. Gun shots. He had scars everywhere. He looked like he lost in a game of paintball shooting and ended up splattered everywhere. She smiled softly at the thought, not knowing that Slade would smile back.

He took her wrists and placed them carefully above her head, keeping her restrained in one hand and leaned down to nestle his face into her neck again, his goatee scratching her flesh as he continued kissing and biting it.

It was meant to be a distraction. Felicity had closed her eyes and turn her head away, giving him more access. Slade intended to distract her as he slowly opened her thighs. He pulled down his boxers and held her hips firmly.

Felicity was unaware of what he was doing until she felt a stabbing pain at her entrance and she gasped in pain. _Okay, I did not see that coming_. She hadn't had sex with anyone in a while so she knew it would obviously hurt. She didn't expect it to hurt that much until she felt him bury himself all the way to the hilt. He had been slow and gentle but it still hurt. Perhaps it was because she was small and he was too big for her. It stretched her inside.

But she let it be. She didn't fight him nor did she tell him to let go. She eased into it. Slade's thrusts were gentle and slow but firm. He grunted and his breath hitched against her shoulder as he continued. Felicity moaned as her insides began to tighten within each thrust.

Within a moments, Slade began to move a little faster, listening to her short gasps. Keeping his head pressed against her shoulder and grunting through each thrust, Slade did not notice something strange was happening to Felicity.

Her greenish blue eyes slowly turned black.

Felicity saw visions in the back of her head. Screaming. People shouting and running. Explosion. A man in a bat suit. Fire. Blood. Terrifying creatures with four glowing red eyes along with a large and more intimidating one. A group of teens in costumes and fighting, one of them having green skin and the other made of metal. Slade in his Deathstroke costume shooting at the four-eyed creatures. Her in the Black Canary suit and letting out her canary cry. A giant black raven. And a young women in a dark cloak, eyes black and covered in blood. That young woman soon turned into Rachel.

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. She and Slade finally had sex even if it wasn't entirely out of love, not yet at least. And Felicity having her first glimpse into the future is something that will be explained in further chapters. Anyways, thank you all for reading.**

 **Leave a comment and tell me what you think of this chapter. And I promise that I will post more chapter and that the whole dilemma I have with the other chapters will be resolved soon.**


	26. Chapter 26: Shower

**Sorry for the late post. I've been extremely busy these days. But I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"So, I hear that you killed your mom?" one of the boys in the orphanage approached Rachel. She was drawing the same black bird on scrap of paper. She would need another one since the one she had in her hands was wearing out. Of course, she ignored the boy who was mocking her. The other two that were with him were simply chuckling. She wanted to be left alone. "Did you do it?"

Rachel continued drawing while ignoring the boy. She didn't know him. Of course, she didn't know anyone. She hardly ever spoke to any of them. The boy is scrawny with red-orange hair and chubby cheeks

"So, what did you use? A gun? A knife?" he asked and poked her in the shoulder. "Are you a vampire? Do you suck blood?"

Rachel didn't responds to that either. She immediately got pushed off her chair and landed on the ground with a soft thud. "I'm talking to you, biatch!" The other boys laughed.

Her eyes turned black and looked over her shoulder with a snarl before lunging herself at the boy that pushed her.

* * *

Slade's eye opened at the morning sun in his face. He took a deep breath and was about to stretch when he felt light weight on his chest and abdomen. Frowning, he looked down to see Felicity curled up on top of him. Well, her torso was on top of him while her bottom half was wrapped in sheets, her breasts pressed against abdomen and her head resting on his chest. He now remembered what happened last night. They both had sex. _Oh dear_.

Smiling, he brushed his fingers through her soft tangled hair and down her bare back. Felicity stirred and moaned, snuggling up against him even more, before slowly opening up her eyes and now blinking at the bright golden glow of the sun.

"Did you sleep well?" Slade asked.

With a sigh, Felicity looked up at him and smiled with a nod.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" he now asked with concern after noticing a few bruises on her wrists and shoulder-blades. He had held her too tightly. He couldn't imagined what would have happened if he had his hand around her throat. He could have strangled her by accident, or could have broken her neck. He was glad for his self-control.

Felicity frowned at his words. "No. You were great. More than great, actually. I don't know if I can say the same thing for me. I'm a little bit sloppy. It's been years since I've had sex."

"Years? Oh dear then," he chuckled before kissing her head.

"I mean, have you heard that if a woman stops wearing earrings, the hole on the lobe seals," Felicity stared at him wide-eyed. "Imagine if my vagina closes for not having sex."

"Well then, you're lucky I got here just in time," he joked and Felicity laughed. "You were wonderful as well. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you have any doubts, we can try again and see if it gets better."

Felicity's smile disappeared and she looked at him in surprise.

"You mean, you really _want_ to do this again…with me?"

Slade frowned at her. "Don't you?"

"I…I don't know. I thought you might have wanted just a one-night stand."

Slade smiled at her softly and tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. He then sat up from the bed, grabbing Felicity down to the bed much to her surprise, and flipped her down to the bed. Felicity squealed at this gesture as she was now thrown onto the bed with Slade hovering on top of her. He didn't put his complete weight on top, afraid that he might rip open her stitches and she was glad of his restraint.

"At first, but now I am not so sure. I figured I would like more than a one-night stand."

Felicity's smile returned on her face and rose up to kiss him on the lips. But Slade immediately forced her down again. Felicity looked at him in confusion, wondering if something was wrong.

It was a long time since Slade kissed a woman. It had been too long. He still couldn't remember what it was like to kiss Adeline or any other woman. He was afraid of kissing Felicity. He was afraid kissing might disappoint him or that it might make him fall in love again. He was afraid of falling in love again and being heart-broken again. He didn't want to feel that way again. He certainly didn't want to break Felicity's heart either by kissing her and making her fall in love with him to later have her heart broken to pieces. It would just make matters worse. It was even worse when Shado was standing next to the bed, watching them both fuck.

Slade looked at Felicity sorrowfully. Felicity didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Did I do something wrong, Slade?"

"No," he sighs, "You did nothing wrong….I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asks in concern.

"It doesn't matter now does it?" he said and kissed Felicity on the head.

Felicity wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed. "It does matter to me, Slade…You're not going to tell me either way, aren't you?"

Slade kissed her on the head and chuckled. "No."

He then proceeded kissing her neck and down to her breasts. Felicity leaned back against the bed and let out sigh as he continued kissing her down her stomach. She giggled when he began to kiss and softly bite her inner thigh. The goatee was scratching the skin and it tickled her.

"Stop that," she giggled. Slade simply chuckled and continued kissing lower. She let out a small moan when he began to flick his tongue over her clit. He kissed and sucked at it. Felicity clutched at the sheet and hissed.

Slade hears something from downstairs of the Merlyn Mansion and hears a familiar voice speaking to one of the guards. Fuck.

Slade immediately sat up from the bed and got off of Felicity immediately. This left Felicity confused once more.

"What is it?"

"Isabel," he says. Felicity's eyes widened in shock as she scrambled out of the bed and wrapped the sheets around her to cover her nakedness.

"She's going to kill me if she sees me," Felicity panicked. "I'll be locked in the bathroom if you need me."

Slade nodded in agreement and Felicity immediately scrambled into the bathroom and shut the door. Slade immediately got dressed in his business suit as fast as he could. He was already adjusting his bowtie when Isabel entered the bedroom. She did not look happy.

"There was a board meeting at 10 and you weren't there this morning," Isabel sneered, "Mr. Luthor and Dr. Light are not happy with your absence."

"I can tell that you're not happy either," Slade sighed as he finished adjusted his black tie, "I overslept, that's all."

Isabel looked around the messy bed. She could smell a very peculiar scent coming from it. And she looked at Slade sternly. He tried very hard not to look at Isabel in the eyes. He knew that she was aware of what he did last night. But she didn't with who. And he hoped she didn't find out.

"You overslept all right," she said while looking at the sheets with disgust before looking at him, "Who was she this time? Who was the bitch you fucked last night?"

"As if it were your business to know."

"It _is_ my business, Slade," she snarled at him viciously, "You know I don't like sharing."

She embraced Slade but he immediately pushed her away, much to her disappointment. Isabel didn't like being rejected like a one of his whores. She could imagine the bitch he fucked last night was still in the bathroom taking a show though she couldn't hear the shower being turned on.

"Well, my dear, I am no property of anyone, not even you," Slade said.

"But I'm your property, right?" Isabel asked. "And what about Felicity Smoak? Or the bitch inside your bathroom? Is she your property?"

Slade simply stared at her. He knew he had used the wrong words. But she was right. Isabel was not his property and neither was Felicity, Adeline or Shado. He didn't want to treat Felicity like a piece of property. She had already made it clear, in her way. He even felt bad of not kissing her. He now felt that he simply used her. He felt he had manipulated with her emotions. He though he had raped her. He even manipulated Isabel into working with him which sort of like _rape_.

Finally, Isabel sighed in deception. "Listen, I just came here to tell you that I rescheduled your meeting till 2. And Oliver Queen's trial is tomorrow morning."

"I haven't forgotten."

"So, what are we going to do about it?" she asks, "If Oliver is declared innocent, it means he'll be out there as the Arrow again. All of our plans will be ruined."

"My plan is to destroy Oliver Queen. If he is declared innocent and released from his shackles, I will still make him suffer by taking everything he loves. Of course, if he is guilty for the murder of Sara Lance, he would still suffer in a prison cell. As long as Oliver suffers, nothing will make me happier."

He gave her a smile but it didn't seem to convince Isabel as she made her way to the bathroom, and his smile dropped. He couldn't allow her to find Felicity in the bathroom, she would kill her. "Isabel..." He tried to stop her from getting to the door but she already opened it and entered the bathroom. Slade followed after her.

To both of their surprise, there was no one in the bathroom. The shower wasn't on. And there was no one in the bathtub. Isabel checked everywhere for any signs of Slade's _whore_ but didn't find anyone, much to her disappointment. Slade mentally sighed of relief. Isabel was not happy that she couldn't Felicity. Of course, she may had not been looking for Felicity specifically.

Isabel then turned to Slade irritably. "Be there on time, okay?"

She then left.

Slade ran a hand over his face and sighed in frustration. He then wondered where Felicity was if not in the bathroom. Where did she go?

"Felicity?" he called out her name. But no one responded.

He then heard one of his guards call him from outside. He immediately looked out the window to see one of his guards holding Felicity by the upper arm. The sheet that she had around her body was covered in dirt and her hair had bits of leaves. He wondered if Felicity literally just climbed out the window and fell out. It wasn't the smartest plan but it wasn't the dumbest either.

"Sneak her around back," Slade shouted, "Don't let Miss Rochev see her though."

With a nod, the guard half-dragged Felicity to the back of Merlyn Mansion.

* * *

"That was embarrassing," Felicity said while still taking a shower to clean off all the dirt and leaves from her skin and hair. When she heard Isabel coming to the bathroom, she immediately went to the window and climbed out. Of course, she didn't expect to slip on the ledge and fall to the ground. Luckily, she didn't scream. And she was lucky that the fall didn't rip open her wound. But it hurt like hell. She then ended up being held at gunpoint by one of the guards who thought she was trying to escape. She was glad he didn't shoot her. _I'm three times lucky_. "I don't know how worse it can get."

"Isabel could have killed you," he said as he stood at the showerhead opposite side of the shower box.

"Now that's worse." She continued washing off the shampoo from her hair and craned her neck, feeling it sore. "But she didn't, did she?"

She heard Slade chuckle before she felt his arms around her waist and planting small kisses on the base of her neck. She let out a giggle and then a small moan when his hand slid up to cup her left breast while his other hand snuck between her legs and played with her clitoris.

"Beautiful," he breathed. Felicity sighed at the feel of his breath tickling her skin.

"So...how many women did you bring here?" she asked. This made Slade stopped and turned her around.

"You heard?"

She nodded. "Every word. Of course, Isabel was being bitchy about it. Still..."

"I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"...You're still going to testify against Oliver, are you?"

Slade smirked. "Yes, just as well as you're going to testify in his favour. My plans haven't changed."

"Do you really want to make him suffer?" she asked. She looked at him in the eyes. He was being serious when he said that to Isabel. "You know that Oliver would never hurt Sara. He never laid a hand on her and you know that and still, you want him to be eaten alive by guilt!?"

"Felicity, a person like you would never understand -."

She took this as a personal offense. "A person like me? Do you think I don't understand why you're doing this? I do. I know what you're going through because I've been through the same bullshit you went through but I don't go around taking it out on other innocent lives. For someone who wants justice, you're really cynical, you know that?"

"Felicity -."

"Don't _Felicity_ me. I appreciate what you've done for me but I'm still a bit surprised that you're still thinking about hurting Oliver. I shouldn't be surprised though but still...What I don't understand is, if you hate Oliver so much and want to take away everything he cares about, why did you even bother saving me?"

He didn't answer. That was a good question. Slade hated Oliver to the point he could anything associated with him and yet, he saved Felicity's life without thinking twice. He saved her. He healed her. And then they had sex. A weird way of expressing themselves. And yet he still had the balls to still testify against Oliver without the care he fucked Felicity.

"You know what? You may have fucked me. I may have asked for it. But that doesn't mean you can take me for stupid," she snarled, "I'm nobody's bitch."

She waited for him to respond but he simply stared at her. No anger. No surprise. Just an unreadable stare as if he was reading her as well.

Shaking her head in deception, she simply scoffs and was about to walk out of the shower when Slade grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her back in.

Felicity struggled for him to release her. "Let me go, Slade. Let go."

He smirked at her futile attempt of escape. "I always liked angry women, did you know that?" Felicity glared daggers at him in response. "I always find their temperament and fights quite alluring."

"I'm serious, Slade," she hissed.

"So am I." With that, he held her closer, pressing and trapping her body to his. Felicity struggled slightly but it only made him hold tighter as he feasted on her neck with bites and kisses, leaving marks and bruises.

She tried but couldn't escape him though. She was already pinned to the wall. He didn't look like h was going to hurt. He simply got mad and couldn't control his action. It was better than getting hit in the face. If he ever dared lay a hand on her, she knew that would be the last. So, she simply went with it.

He held her hips tightly as he pressed her against the wall even further before lifting her up and wrapping her legs around his waist. She gasped when she felt his hand fist into her hair and pull her head back slightly, forcing her to look at him in the eye. She was trembling in excitement but her face showed a bit of fear and concern. She was heading into darkness. A place of no return. If she continued down this dark path, she knew she would be facing consequences. But right now, she didn't care. And neither did Slade.

"I'm not finished with you yet," he said huskily and almost threateningly.

Without warning, she was impaled. She squirmed slightly but kept her arms locked around Slade's neck to keep herself from slipping from his hold. He continued kissing and biting on her neck as he continued pushing into her in slow and firm thrusts. They were finishing where they left off with no other interruptions.

* * *

"So, is this Wintergreen guy going to kill you once he sees the bruises you left on me?" Felicity asks as she slips on a white shirt and purple cardigan Slade found for her in the room that used to belong to Mrs. Merlyn. The poor dear passed away years ago when Tommy was small. The clothing Felicity was wearing were a bit too big for her but at least she was able to reach the zipper to close it up. She didn't want to wear anything tight that could hurt the wound in her stomach. Slade was putting on his suit again.

"There's a 95% chance that he will kill me. The other five percent is that he won't kill me," he said while adjusting his boy tie and the eyepatch.

Felicity chuckled. "Don't bet on the 5% then, because 95% percent is a big possibility." She looked at herself in the mirror. The bruises Slade left on her were covered by long sleeves but the ones her father left on her face were still slightly noticeable. Plus, she didn't have her glasses. She wouldn't mind if Slade had a pair of glasses she could use. Of course, she knew that Slade wouldn't be using glasses if he only had one eye. Bad joke. Luckily I did not say anything.

"Are you certain you wish to leave the house?" he asked.

Felicity had decided to go back to the Clocktower to let Diggle know she was okay. She was skeptical about leaving the house but she thought she needed fresh. She didn't want to stay confined behind four walls. She would take public transportation, not really wanting to take the chance of reencountering Colton. It's like he's _everywhere_. But she knew that Diggle was going crazy worried for her. She needed to let him know she was still alive.

"I have to," she said, "Dig must be worried sick about me. And the police don't know I'm a deadman walking."

"You'll be going back to your apartment then?"

She pulled her hair back and tied it into her usual ponytail. "Well, if there's police tape at my door, there's 95% chance that won't be happening for awhile."

"Where would you go?" he asked with concern.

"I'll probably book a hotel or stay with Dig. He's like a brother to me."

She noticed Slade purse his lips. He looked a bit jealous. _Why should he be jealous? Is he really going to be like every time he sees me talking to either Diggle or Oliver? Scratch that, I don't want to know._

"I'll be fine, Slade," she assured him, "I'm a big girl."

She wasn't very sure if she was fine, however. She was still nervous about going around by herself when Colton is stalking her. The Canary cry was able to stop him for a little while but she knew that she was no match for him when it came to a physical fight. She was hopeless at that, unless...She really hated asking people for favours. And she would certainly hate asking Slade for a favour but he was the best hope she had so far.

"Slade?" He gave her a puzzled look. She turned around to face him. "Um, I don't really like asking for favours but I was wondering if...you know...after Oliver's trial tomorrow, you could...I don't know...you could...you could train -."

The old man Wintergreen entered the bedroom, interrupting them both. _Oh well, maybe later_.

Wintergreen checked on her wounds. And as expected, he got _really_ mad when he saw the bruises on Felicity's waist just near the hipbones and also the wrists. "Slade Wilson, what did you do to her!?" Slade immediately looked away and let out a whistle. Felicity simply chuckled. "It-it's okay," she stammered, "He really didn't do anything to me."

"I know what he did," Wintergreen growled. Well, isn't he a grumpy man? "The question is, why can't he keep his pants on for one minute?"

"Well, for one, Wintergreen, you're not my father," Slade confronted him saying.

"You're lucky I'm not your father or I would -."

"Guys, come on, knock it off." Felicity then felt like she was arguing with both Oliver and Diggle. They're always fighting about something. They would act like kids and Felicity had to be the mother pulling them both by the ears. It got annoying fast.

She then hears her cellphone ring on the nightstand. She guessed it might be Diggle calling her again. The calls were always worrisome. The more Diggle got worried the more it worried her. Also, she could tell how the continuous phone calls was annoying the hell out of Slade by the way he rolled his one eye.

Felicity asked Wintergreen to pass the phone to her, which he did. To her surprise, it wasn't Diggle calling her.

"Hello?...Yeah, this is Felicity Smoak…Oh hi, I didn't expect a call from you…She did _WHAT_!?"

* * *

 **Well, that escalated quickly. In my opinion, I think the end of this chapter went a bit cheesy.**

 **Comment down below and let me know what you all think. Please?**


	27. Chapter 27: We're Closed

**I intended to put a bit more into the chapter but since the chapter is as long as my arm, I decided to shave some of the parts for later chapters. Anyways, thanks everyone for being patience and here's the next chapter to _Black Smoak_**

* * *

 _Felicity remembered it was her Dad's birthday party. She didn't remember how old he was turning. But he was young. Felicity thought he was in his late 20's or something. She and her mother_ _made him a birthday cake. They didn't know what cake flavour he liked so they made him a cheesecake_. _Felicity_ _liked cheesecake, a lot. She didn't know if her father liked it though._

 _Her Dad came home with a bunch of friends from the bar. Felicity didn't know any of them, except for one. Her uncle. Her Dad's brother. Michael. Felicity loved Michael with all her heart. He was more like a father to her than Colton ever was. He's engaged with her aunt Donna. He or Donna would always pick Felicity up from school when her Mom couldn't._

 _He came here for Felicity, not for Colton. Michael didn't like Colton much._

 _Every time Felicity saw Michael, she would happily jump into his arms._

 _The party wasn't exactly a party. Colton and his friends were simply sitting on the couch watching sports and drinking bottles and bottles of beer. One of Colton's friends tried to offer Felicity a bottle of beer but her uncle quickly snatched it from her hands and gave Colton's friend a deadly look. Felicity was trying to play with Raggedy Ann doll but she would jump every time Colton and his friends were yelling at the TV. Her mom was cutting the cheesecake. No one had touched the cheesecake yet. It was a waste._

 _"_ _Want to eat the cheesecake?" her uncle Michael asked. Felicity nodded and they both went to the kitchen to eat the cheesecake. At least, her Mom's cooking wasn't a complete waste. The cheesecake was delicious. Felicity didn't see why Colton didn't eat at least a slice. Maybe he just wasn't the cake type._

 _Felicity watched her Mom heading over to the living room where Colton was and she was immediately pulled onto his lap. Felicity watched carefully. Then her uncle asked her if she wanted to play outside in the sandbox. Felicity was only four. She didn't know what was happening at that time. But she remembered Michael giving her an eerie look when he asked her that question. Felicity simply nodded in agreement and they both went outside to play in the sandbox._

 _Michael helped Felicity build the sand castle. It was actually fun. They didn't have water to mold the sand into an actual castle so the castle was just a pile of sand with a twig placed on top of it._

 _That's when Felicity heard it. The faintest sound of her mother screaming. Felicity jumped and turned her attention to the house where she heard her Mom scream._

 _"_ _Uncle Michael, what's wrong with Mom?" Felicity asked. He didn't say anything at first. He just kept having that eerie look in his face._

 _"_ _It's nothing," he said. "She probably just saw a mouse or something. Hey, want to play on the swing?"_

 _Unfortunately, Felicity agreed. She thought if she hadn't accepted her uncle's offer, maybe she would have known what happened to her mom. Everyone left the party after that. Michael told Felicity to stay on the swing a little while longer while he cleaned up the mess. Only, when Felicity returned to the house, there was no one. Colton was gone, his friends were gone and her uncle was gone. The only thing Felicity found was a mess in the living room, the cake still untouched on the counter and her Mom curled up in a corner of the living room crying profusely. Her mother had bruises on her arms and legs and her little blue dress was torn. Felicity thought is she had known what they did to her, maybe she would have stopped them._

 _She grabbed a black trash bag and started throwing the empty bottles of beer into it. Her mom immediately smacked them out of her hands and snapped at her: "Don't touch them!" She then held Felicity in her arms and continued to cry. "My baby, my sweet baby!"_

 ** _What happened? What have they done to you?_**

* * *

Felicity took a taxi to the orphanage. Slade insisted to drive her there but she refused. She really rather do this by herself. She thanked him for his help though. Felicity saw two police cars outside the gate of the orphanage when she arrived. _This is not good_. She paid the taxi driver and immediately bolted out of the cab.

Once in the orphanage, she headed for the lobby. Four policemen were there along with the headmistress and Rachel. _Oh God_

Rachel was sitting on the bench with her backpack next to her and having a cotton swab in her mouth by a policewoman. A saliva test, I'm guessing.

"What are you doing?" Felicity asked quickly. Rachel then saw her and gasped with glad.

"I'm taking a few samples, Miss, this is a crime scene," the policewoman said sternly.

"Is someone dead?" Felicity asked. She refused to be intimidated by this woman.

"No —."

"Then, I don't see you have the right to do that," Felicity said. Of course, Felicity had no authority over what's to be done with Rachel. She was not the mother. But she really wished she was. She loved Rachel. She didn't want anything bad happening to her.

The first call Felicity got was from the headmistress. She was told Rachel attacked a boy in the playground and bit out his shoulder. The boy Rachel attacked was being attended at the hospital. He didn't die though. He only lost 10% of his blood. But the police were there to investigate Rachel as if she were a criminal. Felicity knew Rachel better. She had a reason to bite off that boy's shoulder, even though it wasn't a good reason.

"The headmistress gave me permission for test. Now, if you don't mind —."

"Miss Smoak!" Felicity heard the headmistress call her. She could see that the headmistress was not happy about the situation. She was giving Rachel a venomous glare. Her arms were folded.

Felicity immediately went over to the headmistress and asked if she was pressing charges against Rachel. "She's only six years old. She didn't know what she was doing."

"I'm not pressing charges," the headmistress hissed harshly, "But I need you to sign these papers for me."

She handed Felicity a clipboard filled with papers. She looked at the headmistress in confusion. The headmistress simply handed her a pen. Felicity didn't know what these papers were for or why the headmistress was giving them to her right now when Rachel was needed more than ever. Unfortunately, the headmistress insisted Felicity to sign the papers. _As soon as I signed them, the sooner I could get back to Rachel_. Felicity began signing. However, some papers needed to be filled before she could sign them but the headmistress said she would take care of that later. She just needed Felicity to sign all of them. And she did. Felicity didn't know what it was for though.

That was until the headmistress shoved a suitcase in Felicity's hands. "There. She's _your_ problem now."

She stared the headmistress, her eyes widening in confusion and shock. "What? I don't underst—."

"You want her? Take her! No one is going to adopt that little savage anyways! And I don't want that little monster here hurting the other kids! Do whatever you want with her. Just get her out of my sight!"

And that exactly what Felicity did right after the policewoman finished taking sample of Rachel's saliva. She gathered up Rachel in her arms along with her things and bolted out of the orphanage as fast as her heels could carry. Now she knew what those papers were for. The headmistress just gave her Rachel as a way of getting rid of her from the orphanage. Felicity knew that the headmistress couldn't kick Rachel out without getting in trouble with the authorities. She was smart about it. The question now was…was it the right choice?

In the taxi cab, Rachel was sobbing silently on her lap. Felicity kept brushing off the hair from her face. She heard her mumble: "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

* * *

Felicity stayed at Diggle's apartment. As suspected, he was worried sick about her. He thought Felicity was hurt. That didn't surprise her. She was also greeted by Lyla who was glad to have someone fill up one of the empty rooms of their apartment. _Well, wasn't **that** convenient_.

She didn't tell Diggle or Lyla about what happened at the orphanage. She didn't tell them what Rachel did. It wouldn't be a comfortable topic to talk about, especially if Lyla worked for Amanda Waller. It wasn't the right time to tell them. Diggle brought some of Felicity's things from my apartment, including Sara's costume. She was lucky none of the cops from the SCPD found Sara's old costume. She would have been screwed.

They ate dinner at the kitchen table. Diggle cooked up steak. It was good. His cooking was good. Of course, Rachel only took a few bites of the steak. She didn't look hungry. She looked tired and drained. Felicity was worried about her. She looked at Diggle and Lyla. They also seemed concerned.

"Um, Rachel, are you sure you don't want to eat?" Diggle asked.

Rachel didn't look at Diggle when she answered him. "I'm not hungry…It's good though."

Felicity looked at Rachel glumly. With a sigh, Felicity brushed back her hair and kissed her head.

Diggle then asked Felicity what happened with Slade. "How did you leave without him stopping you?"

"He just let me go," Felicity answered. She wasn't going to explain the details to him. She wasn't going to tell Diggle about her sleeping with Slade. Not yet, especially with Rachel around. It wouldn't be appropriate if Diggle ended up cursing to God almighty. "I mean, he was okay with me leaving. He knew that it was important."

"Do you know where he's hiding at?" Lyla then asked. Felicity knew she would ask that. Waller had been hunting down Slade for a while. Still, Felicity couldn't tell her and she was guessing Diggle didn't tell her either.

"I promised I wouldn't tell," Felicity said. Of course, that did not help. Lyla gave Felicity a look, the kind of look someone gives you when you're hiding something. Because Felicity _was_ hiding something. She slept with Slade. _It's not a big deal. Okay, maybe it was a big deal_. _I fucked with a supervillain_.

"Is there something you want to tell us? You look…different," Lyla squinted her eyes at Felicity. Aside that she didn't have her glasses right now, Felicity actually felt different. She simply continued eating her steak.

"Um, it's nothing, really. I'm just tired," Felicity said. She was tired. She wasn't pregnant though. It had only been one night since she slept with Slade. Oh! She forgot, he didn't even wore a condom which was worse. Felicity was sure to get pregnant if he didn't wear a condom next time. If there was a next time that is.

There was a knock on the door. Diggle got up from his chair. "I'll get it."

Diggle went to answer the door. It was Laurel. "Oh, hey Laurel." Felicity froze when Diggle mentioned her name. She didn't know she was coming.

"Have you heard anything from Felicity?" Laurel asked.

"Yeah. She's right in the kitchen with Lyla and Rachel," Diggle said.

"Oh thank God! Thanks...Who's Rachel again?" Diggle returned to the kitchen with Laurel following behind him. She greeted them all and even offering a small smile to Rachel. Of course, Rachel didn't notice and it earned Felicity a confused expression.

Felicity gave a false explanation: "She's a little cranky right now. It's best if we left her at peace."

Laurel nodded in understanding before settling herself on a chair in front of the counter with the others. Diggle offered her dinner which she kindly rejected. She already ate dinner before coming to the apartment. She only came because she had something important to talk about. But first..."How are you feeling, Felicity?" she asked with concern.

"I, um, fine. I'm fine," Felicity nodded.

"After you got attacked, the police were trying to locate your body, thinking that you were dead. No one has heard from you in three days and we assumed the worst. Luckily, Diggle called and explained to me where you were."

"He did, did he?" Felicity gave Diggle a look when she said. _Everyone is giving the **look** today_. Diggle simply shrugged in response. Of course, she was glad Laurel didn't question about Slade. She was already getting tired of people asking her about Slade. She understood people were concerned for her but she was tired of 'Slade this' and 'Slade that'. It was driving her nuts. _Enough with the Slade please_.

Felicity then heard Rachel giggle. "Is there something funny?" she asked. Rachel simply looked at her in shock and immediately shook her head.

"I need to go pee," she said and asked Diggle, "Can I use the bathroom here, please?"

"Sure, sweetie. The bathroom is right down the hall," Diggle pointed down at the illuminated hallway. Rachel thanked him before quickly getting down from her chair and bolting down the hallway.

"Don't lock yourself in!" Felicity shouted after her. It was a good idea Rachel went to the bathroom. The important issue Laurel was going to report to them needed to be spoken between them and by no means Rachel should be involved in it. She was already in enough trouble as it is. "Listen, okay, I admit it, Slade kept me in his home for three days when he found me. But I was asleep. I didn't know it was him. I tried calling you, Dig, but I accidentally called Slade for help. By the way, Dig, you need to change your phone number. And after waking up, he just let me go."

"Just like that?" Diggle asked, crossing his arms and frowning, "No threats? No torture? That's weird."

"Do you want him to torture me, Dig? Is that what you want? Because I can change that right now if you want," Felicity said while holding up her phone. Diggle immediately snatched it from her hand put it down on the counter.

"Don't be a masochist, Felicity," he said.

"Listen, everyone," Laurel leaned over the counter to whisper in order to keep Rachel from listening, "I got some good news and I got some bad news -."

"Aside that bad news being Slade and Isabel, along with Quentin testifying against Oliver at court tomorrow, I really don't see how it can get worse than that," Diggle gave Felicity another look. What's with all these people and the looks? Jeez.

"Well, I'm giving the bad news first then," Laurel sighed before continuing, "One of Isabel's lawyers visited Oliver and said that the court is willing to offer him a one year sentence and no death penalty if he confessed that he killed Sara."

Everyone's eyes widen in shock. Diggle was the first one to exclaim in disbelief. "Holy shit! That bitch!"

Felicity scoffed. "I've already said this before and I'll say it again. I've already hated her before she was a supervillain."

"And what did Oliver say?" Lyla asked.

"He asked me for advice," Laurel said, "He asked me if he should accept the offer. I told him not to accept any offers until trial is over. If things go south, then we may not any other choice but if things go well, we might not be able to submit to Miss Rochev's offer."

Felicity thought it was weird that Oliver had his ex-girlfriend for a lawyer, Sara's sister and daughter of the policeman that wants him in jail for a crime he didn't commit. But Felicity decided not to say anything for she knew things were awkward already. She didn't want to make the situation more uncomfortable as it was right now.

"So...what's the good news?" she asked instead.

"The good news is that SCPD doesn't have enough evidence to convict Oliver of any crime," Laurel said. Diggle and Lyla sighed with glad. "They couldn't find any evidence that Oliver Queen used a weapon against Sara, and thanks to a nice lady at the Seattle Police Department named Olivia Moore, she just confirmed that what killed my sister wasn't a knife. It was a bite. She sent me the evidence to me this morning through fax."

"A bite? What kind of bite?" Diggle asked, frowning.

"You wouldn't believe me if I tell you," Laurel said. Felicity could tell by the look on her face that Laurel couldn't believe it herself either. "It was a shark bite."

Everything fell into silence. A shark bite. Felicity remembered mentioning that at the morgue when they showed the body. The doctor identified it as rows of stab wounds. Of course, Felicity identified them to be obvious shark bites. It looked like a shark bite. And it was definitely a shark bite. She had been right. But the question was...how? How did Sara die from a shark bite? Sara was never neared the water. She was in the apartment with Oliver. There was no way a shark could walk out of water and bite Sara in the torso, unless the shark was meta-human. But Oliver did say he didn't see anyone attack Sara. She was just thrashing and screaming on the bed when the bite marks appeared. Unless...

"Laurel, this might be the most inappropriate question I have ever asked," Felicity immediately lit, "Was Sara afraid of the water?"

Laurel shook her head. "No, of course not, she loved the water. She took swimming class and everything. Of course, she hated going to the beach because she was really scared of were..." Laurel went quiet for moment but then said it. "Sharks...Sara has always hated sharks, ever since watching the Jaws movies. Every time we went to the movies, she always covered her eyes when a shark was coming. She hated the white sharks."

"But how did Sara die from a shark bite?" Diggle asked in confusion. They were all confused.

Felicity wasn't. She knew who was responsible for Sara's death.

"Before Sara died, we were having coffee and I told her about a series of strange events occurring where a few men have died in their sleep, some of them looking like suicide but no signs of struggle or anyone. It's like they're being killed by some ghost or something."

"It could be someone having abilities," Felicity brought up, "Cisco sent me photos of people having these abilities after the storm back in Central City. A man that was part shark was spotted swimming in the coastlines and eating up fishermen. They took a video of it and everything."

"It could have been just some asshole in a costume," Diggle suggested.

"Well, tell that to Cisco who was chased for 20 minutes through Central City trying to get samples from its saliva. It wasn't his best idea, by the way," she said, "Any who, there's a possibility that there might be a person with the ability to kill another in their sleeping stage, kind of like Freddy Krueger."

"But Felicity, that's impossible," Laurel said, "No can have those kinds of abilities. That's only in movies. A half-man and half-sharp. A Freddy Krueger copycat. A Speedster. A Robin Hood. Assassins. Everything we've seen so far always comes out in movies. What's next? A screaming banshee?"

That said, Felicity and Diggle looked at each other. Screaming banshee. Felicity nodded at him and Diggle disappeared into one of the bedrooms. Moments later, Diggle returned pushing a full-length mirror into the kitchen. Felicity swallowed hard and took deep breaths, trying to be relaxed as possible as she stood in front of the mirror.

"What's this?" Laurel asked in confusion.

"You might want to cover your ears," Diggle said before putting his hands to his ears. Laurel followed his instruction. Lyla didn't know what was going on either but did the same.

"Dig, how much did the mirror cost?" Felicity asked.

"80 dollars," he said. _It must be a cheap mirror then_ , she thought.

"I'll pay it back then."

Her father Colton was becoming a Freddy Kruger copycat, exposing the sleepers into their worst fears before killing them. It's my fault she's dead. But she was afraid of telling Laurel this. She was afraid of how she would react towards her. _What if she hates me because of my father? What if she hates me for not telling her? She'll hate me because it's my fault Sara is dead. She tried to defend me and I got her killed because of that_. _Mom is dead. Cooper is dead. Michael is dead. And now Sara is dead. Please, please no more death._

Imagining her father's reflection in the mirror, she allowed her anger out and screeched, causing the mirror to shatter into pieces. Not only that, the glass coffee table in the living room cracked as well as one of the kitchen cabinets. In ten seconds, she finally stopped. _Well, that's going to leave a sour throat in the morning_. But she felt better doing.

She watched Laurel, Diggle and Lyla uncover their ears. Lyla and Laurel were both staring at her with wide eyes and gaped mouths.

"You did this?" Laurel asked looking around in bewilderment. A lot of things made of glass were cracked or shattered due to Felicity's screams.

"Um, yeah," Felicity nodded and crossed her arms awkwardly, "I've had this since the hospital. I haven't been using it but when I do, it gets tiring."

Laurel returned her attention to Felicity. "How?"

"I got electrocuted by William Tockman while hacking into his computer system. He backfired me and my hand was one of Sara's screaming balls and altered some of the nervous system in my brain. But Cisco and Caitlin can explain better since they ran tests on me." Felicity babbled away, unaware that Diggle was making her gestures to get her to shut up. When she finally noticed, it was too late. She already told Laurel enough. "Oops."

"Oops? What oops?" Laurel asked, "You mean, everyone knows? Oliver knows? Did Sara knew? Did you know?"

"Almost everyone knows," Diggle nodded in defeated. The only one he didn't know was Lyla who was giving him the stink eye right now.

"There's something else you should know, Laurel -."

"Felicity, I don't think -."

"She's going to find out sometime, Dig, I think it would be best if she knew already-."

"Felicity -."

"Oliver is the Arrow and Sara was the Canary," she said to Laurel with her eyes closed and trying to ignore Diggle's warning. "They've been trying to protect the city from bad guys and Slade. Slade has a personal vendetta with Oliver because of what happened on some island." Her voice was shaking while saying that. She couldn't control her words. They came out automatically. She felt like she was having a full breakdown. "And we train under the Verdant club and Sara came back to Starling City after the earthquake to make sure you and Detective Lance were okay. And she was a great person and everything and I really need to get out of here and give Rachel a bath before I keep talking incoherent words that will get me into trouble." Felicity immediately left the kitchen and ran down the hall to the bathroom. Laurel tried calling her back but Diggle tells her to leave her be. Once Felicity got a bit better, she could explain things more clearly. Or after the trial.

* * *

Felicity shampooed Rachel's dark hair. There was a bit of blood in it. Felicity wondered how Diggle and Lyla didn't see it. Rachel simply sat there unmoving while Felicity washed. She seemed to be in the same position Felicity found her in once while in that creepy trance of her. Rachel wasn't in a trance this time. She was just sad. Sad because of what happened at the orphanage and what she did to that boy. Felicity decided to get into the bathtub with her.

The water felt warm against her skin. Her skin had become a bit more sensitive since the night with Slade. Felicity missed the feeling his hands slowly caressing her body. She sort of wished she hadn't left the mansion. She wished she and Rachel would have gone back to the Merlyn Mansion than headed to Diggle's apartment.

Felicity pursed her lips and tried to shake away the thought by asking Rachel: "Are you okay?"

Rachel simply nodded but didn't say anything. None of them were okay.

* * *

After bath, Felicity and Rachel both changed into their pajamas. There was only one bed in the room so they had to share. Rachel was wearing a Vintage nightgown while Felicity wore her Raggedy Ann pajama pants and a grey shirt. Felicity didn't know why Rachel like those kinds of gowns. She always thought they were creepy. But if it made Rachel comfortable, there was no reason to protest.

She tucked Rachel into bed and laid beside her. She and the little girl stared at each other. Rachel's little blue eyes didn't blink.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Felicity asked. Rachel shook her head in refusal. "Are you sure?"

Rachel nodded before saying: "Do you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you? Of course not."

"Everyone else does. They hate me because I'm weird and because I bit that boy. They're scared of me. They think I'm a monster. The headmistress said it herself -."

"Rachel, you're not a monster, okay?" Felicity assured and held her closer. "You're not a monster. Whatever it is that's happening to you, we're going to solve it."

"What if I'm sick?" she asked. Felicity never thought of that before. What if Rachel really is sick? What if Rachel has a rare illness where she attacks people. And if she's sick, is it contagious? Could Felicity be sick too? Could everyone be sick?

"If you're sick, then I'm sick too." Felicity then kissed Rachel on the head.

"Are they going to take me away?"

"...Over my dead body." Felicity knew that if the police department tried to remove Rachel from her custody, they didn't know what's coming to them. They would be messing with the wrong Smoak. _Black Canary won't let them._

Felicity then heard her phone ring on the nightstand. She took her phone in her hands and looked at the screen to see who was calling. SLADE WILSON. Felicity groaned in frustration as she sat up from the bed and got out.

"It's the pirate man again, is it?" Rachel asked.

 _Pirate Man?_

"Yes, it is," Felicity whispered and put her finger to her lips. "Shh. I'll be right back. I'll be in the bathroom."

Rachel nodded before lying back down on the bed and closing her eyes. Felicity immediately walked out of the bathroom and trotted over to the bathroom where she locked herself in and answered the call. "You have a lot of nerve calling me at this late hour. Everyone is asleep."

" _Where are you staying at_?" Slade asked through the phone.

"I'm at Diggle's and no, I'm not giving you his address," Felicity said and heard Slade chuckle through the phone line.

" _I knew you wouldn't. I wasn't going to ask anyways. How is she? The girl_."

Felicity sat down on the toilet so she wouldn't be pacing around so much. She kept the conversation low. "Rachel? She's fine. She's a bit creeped out right now. So am I. The headmistress kicked us both out. She doesn't want to see Rachel again, not even in a photo. She thinks Rachel is a monster for biting a boy's shoulder."

" _Isn't it illegal to get rid parentless children from an orphanage?_ "

"It's not if that kid is being investigated for murder. The headmistress gave me documents to sign. She literally forced me to adopt Rachel so she wouldn't have her at the orphanage any longer. Basically, giving us a legal kick in the ass. I hope you don't share this information with anyone."

" _I can't keep promises, love_." Yeah, Felicity shouldn't expect anything from Slade. She couldn't expect for him to keep a secret. She felt all kinds of dumb now for that. " _But back to the matter in hand, I imagine you are now her mother_."

"Basically, yes. And it all depends how the legal system works. She wasn't supposed to be permitted adoption until the investigation is over." Felicity was concerned about that. She couldn't adopt Rachel. No one could. Not until the investigation was over. Now she was afraid the SCPD would knock on the door to take Rachel away. She didn't want that. _Again, over my dead body_. "I don't know what to do about that. It's kind of driving me crazy."

She then heard Slade sigh through the phone. " _Perhaps, I may be able to help you with that predicament_."

"Really?" Felicity frowned, "How?"

" _Well, my dear, I do have connections. With just a phone call, I can get all the assistance you need to help Rachel_."

"Really? You'd do that?" Felicity was a bit surprised Slade was offering assistance, even with his heart set on hurting Oliver.

" _After what you've done for me, it's the least I can do_."

Felicity only chuckled. She hadn't done anything for him, aside from letting him fuck her. She was the one who owed him for saving her life. And having sex with him was not the same thing as repaying him, was it? Felicity didn't know what to think about that.

"I think you've done more for me than what I've done," she replied.

"Do not worry," Slade said with confidence in his voice, "We'll fix that after Mr. Queen's trial."

 _Fix it?_ Felicity didn't want to know what he meant by that. Of course, Slade mentioning Oliver's trial made Felicity remember what Laurel said at the kitchen about Isabel's offer. _Bitch_.

"Slade, did you know anything about Isabel offering Oliver less time of jail if he confessed he killed Sara?" she asked. She didn't want to say it but she felt like she needed to know.

There was no answer at the moment. All she heard was sound of cars honking their horns in the background. She imagined he was in sort of traffic. She, of course, was preparing for the worst. Her stomach was already in knots for the fear of his answer.

" _Yes_."

"You knew? And you approved this?" she asked. Her face was heating up with anger. "You're actually willing to make Oliver suffer by making him confess a murder he didn't commit so he can be released and be known as a murderer for the rest of his life. You're so single-minded that you don't care that you're hurting everyone, Slade."

" _I'm doing what I think it's right, Felicity Smoak. You should understand that by now._ "

"I should but I don't. I don't understand any of this. And newsflash, Laurel made Oliver reject the offer. We're doing this trial fair and square, _do_ you understand?"

She didn't hear him answer which irritated her. If he hung up the phone, it would piss her off more. She spoke up more robotically: "Do you understand these words that I am saying to you right now?"

" _Very clear_." He seemed to growl that last part with annoyance. She felt like she was the mother and Slade was the immature child.

"Where are you at? It sounds like traffic."

"Yes, I'm heading over to Central City," he answered.

Felicity frowned. Why would he be heading to Central City? Of course, a mischievous smirk crossed her face. She kept him busy talking as she typed through her phone pad. She located Slade GPS. He was nearing the traffic lights, already near Central City. If Slade was ballsy enough to still go against Oliver, he clearly didn't know Felicity Smoak. She could empty his bank account and send them all away as donations. But Felicity wanted to annoy Slade, not anger him to a point he would hate her later.

"For what?"

" _I have a meeting with your friend_ ," he replied again, " _The boy from S.T.A.R. Labs_."

"Cisco? Why are you meeting with Cisco? Slade, I'm warning you right now. Don't —."

" _He has something to show me and he finds it important if I met with him immediately so there's nothing to worry about_."

"And do you really think that after what you told me, I'm letting you off the hook that easily? No fucking way. This ain't over easy." With a few clicks on her pad-phone, she made his car shut down. She heard the cars honking louder and more frantic. Her smirk only grew wider. _It's amazing what you can do with technology these days._

" _You're being childish, Felicity_ ," Slade responded. She knew he got annoyed by the tone of his voice.

"Look who's talking. Have fun getting there in time. I'll see you tomorrow, asshole."

" _Felicity_ —."

She then hung up the phone before he could say another word. She giggled on how much she enjoyed it. After hanging up the phone, she texted Cisco: IF YOU'RE MEETING WITH SLADE WILSON, HE'S GOING TO BE A BIT LATE.

-Cisco: WHAT DID YOU DO?

-Felicity: I SHUT DOWN HIS CAR FOR A FEW MINUTES.

-Cisco: YOU ARE ONE BAD BITCH.

-Felicity: BITCH WITH WI-FI

-Cisco: XD

Felicity left the bathroom a few minutes later after hanging up. Of course, as she got out of the bathroom she was confronted by Lyla who gasped in shock at the sight of Felicity's bruises marked on her shoulders, neck and upper arms. Felicity tried cover the bruises with her arms but it was too late. Lyla had already seen them. Now Felicity was in big trouble.

"What happened to you?" Lyla asked while examining the bruises. "Did Slade do this to you? Did he hurt you?"

"He didn't hurt me, Lyla. I promise," Felicity stammered nervously. She knew she couldn't lie anymore. Lyla already saw the bruises but she didn't want her to think Slade hit her. "He…He…He made sure he didn't hurt me."

Lyla's eyes widened at Felicity's words. She finally got the picture. "You didn't. You're not saying what I think you're saying. Tell me you didn't."

Felicity gulped. "I did. I mean, _we_ did."

"Oh my God," Lyla was speechless. Her mouth was agape. "I can't believe this."

"Please don't tell Dig —."

"Felicity do you know how dangerous this is? Do you know what he could have done to you? You know what he's capable of and yet you let him do _that_ to you. He could have killed you —."

"I'm sorry. Lyla, please —." Before Felicity could say anything, she passed out.

* * *

Slade parked his car next to the coffee shop the boy Cisco Ramon indicated him after twenty minutes being stuck in traffic no thanks to Felicity. He got really annoyed with her for hacking his car and shutting it down. Many that were stuck behind him were honking their horns and cursing at him to move. It was only 15 minutes later did his car work again. Slade thought of Felicity's move as immature and childish. If she did that again, Slade would to get mad pretty fast and be at John Diggle's apartment in less than an hour to give her a piece of his mind.

Anyways, Slade entered the coffee shop. It was quite empty. It was almost closing time and there weren't many clients around. He found the boy Cisco Ramon sitting at the back of the coffee shop next to a potted plant, probably wanting to be alone. He working with his pad while humming to himself and tapping his foot; he had his headphones on. Slade simply chuckled. _He's just a kid_.

Slade approached and knocked on the table to get his attention. Cisco jumped with a startle and stammered when he looked up to see Slade standing in front of him.

"You've been quite busy, I assume."

"Oh, um, have a sit," Cisco gestured as he took off his headphones. With a nod, Slade sat down on the opposite side of the table. "Um, Felicity told me you'd be late."

"Oh, did she? Did she also tell you what she did to my car?" Slade squinted his one eye at the boy. Cisco gulped nervously.

"Uh, maybe. She sent me a text. It's kind of funny if you think about it," he said. The serious look on Slade's face indicated that he did not see how Felicity tampering with his car was at all funny. "…and you're not laughing so I'm just gonna drop it."

"I would sincerely prefer that," Slade sighed, "What is it that you wish to show me? I hope this is worth the drive."

"Sure. Don't worry, this will only take a few minutes," Cisco said as he worked on his pad. Rock music accidentally blared from the pad but he immediately turned it off before he continued to search what he was looking. He laughed nervously. "That was embarrassing. Sorry."

"My ears are highly sensitive due to the Mirakuru, kid," Slade warned, "Next time I hear that infernal device scream bloody murder, I will break it to pieces."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Cisco apologized, "I forgot to turn it off before unplugging the earplugs. Oh, here, take a look."

Cisco was showing Slade imagines and schematics of his Deathstroke suit. Blueprints and some were sketches. The suit looked too similar to Slade's. Slade sighed as he looked through the images, frowning and looking clearly unimpressed.

"Is it supposed to be some new design?" he asked. Cisco nodded. "It looks the same."

"It does," Cisco said, "Of course, I added a few features to the design. S.T.A.R. Labs has been working on this material for suits that's bulletproof, blast proof, fireproof and keeps you from freezing in the cold. Also, it will keep you from overheating. I'm guessing your suit might not be comfortable to move around in."

Slade hated to admit it but the Cisco boy was right. He was getting really uncomfortable in his suit and it would heat up at times that it was unbearable. Every time he wore the suit, he was desperate to get out of it as soon as possible. So he thought of it as a good thing someone was finally taking notice of it. But he didn't understand why Cisco was showing this to him.

"The metal I'll be using for the suit is Nth metal which allows you to absorb the blows from a lot tougher opponents. Like for example, we have a meta-human here called King Shark lurking in the rivers. We're still trying to find that bastard. He's like Jaws. He keeps coming and going. Have you ever seen Jaws or Deep Blue Sea with Samuel L. Jackson?"

"I am not familiar with it, no. But you are rambling a bit too much, Mr. Ramon so I suggest you return on the subject."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry. Also, I've designed a new sword for you made out of promethium. If you don't know what promethium means —."

"Promethium is a combined metal of titanium and vanadium, capable of generating and absorbing near-limitless amounts of energy. I've done my research on it myself when I was at ASIS, Mr. Roman. I know what it is."

Cisco nodded. "Cool. Actually, I thought you might know about it. I was just making sure you were paying attention since you look a bit in outer space…However, they say the promethium is volatile. I don't know if you know anything about that."

Slade shook his head. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about the consequences of using promethium. He didn't pay much attention at ASIS. He never took it seriously back then. He allowed Cisco to continue explaining.

"Promethium can be volatile because it's a dangerous mutagen that can be used to mutate living beings or trigger their meta-gene. Basically, if I don't use the metal properly I could end up turning into King Shark or I could probably turn into a green blob like the one from _Ghostbusters_."

"You've been watching too many movies, I assume."

"Hey, the movies help. They help me live so far."

Slade would remind him that half the stuff Cisco saw on TV or in theatres were not real. They were simply creative effects by directors. However, Slade shut up with that remark since he at first didn't believe in the effects of the Mirakuru or the power Felicity had in her, until now.

He was already feeling out of focus on what's right and wrong anymore. The first thing he wanted when coming to Starling City was to destroy Oliver Queen and everyone he loved. And yet, he never reached to kill Felicity, one of the Arrow's most important allies aside from John Diggle and Sara Lance. Sara Lance was dead. He didn't pity her death. He hated her as much as he hated Oliver Queen. The only reason why he attended the funeral was because he wanted to see the mourning of others. But when he saw Felicity mourning, everything had become different and a lot more eerie for him.

He couldn't bring himself to kill Felicity.

And when she got stabbed…Oh how furious it made him. He wanted to find Colton and tear him apart for almost killing. Slade kept saying to himself that he didn't want anyone else trying to kill Felicity if not him but the longer he kept saying that to himself, the lesser he believed it. And after what he did with her last night, his desire to kill her became numb. But now Felicity was pissed off with him for Oliver Queen. He couldn't guarantee that Isabel's offer would work since Oliver was just as stubborn as a mule. He didn't expect for Felicity to get angry about it, however. She was definitely pissed. And she showed her anger by hacking his car and shutting it down in the middle of traffic where he was cursed and yelled at by angry drivers. Slade knew her moves were childish but she made her point. He now knew better to underestimate Felicity Megan Smoak.

And now there was this kid sitting across him. Cisco Ramon. Slade knew his full name however. Francisco Ramon. Isabel first suggested Slade to kill him and dump his body somewhere. She found him annoying. Slade, however, found Cisco to be amusing and interesting. He looked to be a boy with many talents and was making a good use of them in S.T.A.R. Labs. And he didn't seem harmful. But he still questioned why Cisco was showing the designs? Why was he showing them, knowing fully well that Slade could use that information against him? He also wondered why Cisco wasn't afraid of him, even after almost killing him and Caitlyn Snow when they were working at S.T.A.R. Labs.

"Why are you showing this? Is it some sort of offer?" he asked. He mentally scoffed. If Felicity were sitting next to him, she'd be hanging a sign above his head flashing NO SHIT, SHERLOCK.

"Yeah. It kind of is. I've been working in S.T.A.R. Labs for a while so I kind of have connections to get what I need to build the design."

"Why?"

"Well, um, you did help with Felicity and also, you didn't kill me and Caitlyn. The least I could do is pay you back by doing this favour."

Slade wondered how Cisco knew about the assault Colton Smoak inflicted on Felicity Smoak, or perhaps he was referring to the assault at the parking lot. Felicity _was_ talking on the phone with him when it happened. And of course, there's the news. Still, Slade didn't understand why Cisco would he return the favour when he almost killed him and his brunette friend. What was her name again? Caitlyn Snow. He almost killed her, if Cisco hadn't blasted him with a device that temporarily blinded him.

"How can I trust a boy that blasted me?' he asked.

"That was my bad. But you _did_ try to kill us so you practically asked for it," Cisco reminded him. Slade mentally gave him points for that. "I also have Felicity's design on the Black Canary outfit. She doesn't know. It's a surprise. Want to see?"

"I rather not," Slade said. He knew better than to snoop around Felicity's privacy. He had no rights to look through her costumes nor did he have the rights to know what materials Cisco would be using to make them out of. "But thank you."

"Sure," Cisco smiled.

Slade actually liked Cisco. He seemed like a good kid. The only thing he found difficult to tolerate was that how Cisco looked so much like his brother Wade. They looked almost identical. It was almost difficult to focus on what he was saying when his appearance was similar to Wade.

"Is everything okay?" Cisco asked. Slade had been looking at him sternly for almost a minute.

"Nothing," he sighed, "How a boy of your age end up working for S.T.A.R. Labs in the first place, if you don't mind me asking"

"College. Of course, it wasn't easy. I've had a few ups and downs before getting a job in S.T.A.R. Labs. Not everyone is used to smart kids like me."

"Maybe it's because they can't seem to get you to shut up."

"Haha, very funny. I'll remind you that everyone likes my jokes and my references. And —."

"Ease yourself, kid. It was merely a joke."

"Oh. A joke. I knew that."

Slade chuckled. "When will you start building it?"

"Probably tomorrow. I have to help out my friend though so I don't really have a clue when I'll start but I know it will be right away. I won't keep you waiting, I can promise you that." Cisco said. "Do you want coffee or anything? Hot chocolate. Vanilla latte. Wine. Anything?"

"No but thank you," Slade kindly refused, "If that's all you have to say then, I'm guessing I should go. I have important things to do tomorrow."

"Um, can I talk to you about something first?" Cisco asked, "It's a bit personal and I think I'd like to talk about it with someone. The thing is that I don't want to talk about it with Felicity. I don't want to upset her about it."

Slade frowned, not knowing what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Okay, it's about this kid. This little girl that's been hanging around Felicity like a magnet. I, um, can't seem to remember her name —."

"I believe her name would be Rachel."

"Yeah, that's the name. Rachel. She seems like a nice kid and all but something about her isn't right. I don't know why but it's this really weird feeling. Some kind of creepy vibe. You're getting me on this?"

Slade nodded. He understood very well. Of course, he never thought of Rachel that way. The first time he met her, she was just a six-year-old girl that looked very shy. He didn't anything wrong with her. How on earth did Cisco manage to find something wrong her? He didn't know how but Cisco must have had a sharp eye.

"And why are you telling me this for? Do you intend for me to keep a sharp on this little girl or to keep watch of Felicity?"

"Actually, I just want to talk about it with someone without feeling awkward but that works too. I'm not saying that I don't like Rachel. I like her. But like I've always said 'Better safe than sorry'."

"Do you actually say that?"

"…No _p_ e."

"So, Mr. Wilson." Slade immediately recognized Colton Smoak's voice and quickly turned around to see him standing there behind him. Slade didn't hear anyone come into the coffee shop and it was a possibility that Cisco didn't either. How could Cisco not see Colton if he was sitting facing him? Of course, when Slade stood from his seat, Cisco noticed and his eyes widened. Colton continued talking as Cisco slowly stood up from his seat and took a step aside behind Slade. Colton grinned. "I'm guessing he's your kid, right? He kind of looks like you."

"Um, how did _he_ get in here?" Cisco asked. It surprised Slade he didn't ask who Colton was. Cisco probably knew who Colton is. It was possible Felicity told him about Colton.

"I was already in here. I knew this man would arrive," Colton said while pointing at Slade, "Felicity is not the only hacker in the city. I was listening to your conversation on the phone. I got in here before you even got here."

"That's messed up and creepy as fuck," Cisco said.

"Get out," Slade growled viciously and not taking his eye off Colton.

"Me or him?" Cisco asked in confusion.

"Don't be stupid, kid."

"Okay, that's _me_ then. Okay, I'm out of here," Cisco rapidly slipped on his brown jacket and gathered up his stuff, "I'll see you later, Mr. Wilson. And I hope to never see you, Mr. Smoak. Night." And he bolted out of the coffee shop.

Colton continued chuckling when Cisco left the shop like a scared little girl.

Slade, on the other, hand, wasn't laughing. _What does this bastard want?_

"He's a cute kid. A bit too much of a chatterbox though," Colton said, "Who am I to talk though. My daughter is a chatterbox herself. Maybe that's why I seem to like him."

Slade had read further through Colton Smoak's criminal record. Many of the victims Colton Smoak had violated and killed were mostly children. Children from a very small age to puberty. And they were not only girls, also little boys. The man was sick. Even though some pedophiles lose interest in their victims when they reach an older age, Colton never lost interest in his daughter Felicity Smoak even at her age of 24. Cisco Ramon was a bit younger than Felicity, probably a year or two younger. Even at the age, Slade didn't want to risk Cisco which was the reason he asked him to leave the shop which he did in five seconds flat.

When Colton mentioned Felicity, Slade's blood boiled and he could feel the Mirakuru taking effect on his emotions. He gritted his teeth. "I'm warning you. If you ever lay a hand on Felicity again, I will -."

"You'll what? Go ahead, finish your sentence. I'm dying to hear what sort of threats you have for me," Colton said. Slade fell silent as a wave of deja vu crashed. He remembered saying almost those exact same words to Thea when she was threatening him after capturing her. "How odd it is that your words are being used against you, is it? Poor Thea Queen. She was so vulnerable. Tell me, did you also think of fucking her like you fucked my daughter?"

"How did you know of my words?" Slade asked, ignoring that last question. He had no intentions of hurting Thea Queen the way Colton did to other kids. He wasn't that psychotic.

"Since I can invade people's dreams, I can also see what everyone has in their minds. I know what everyone thinks," Colton said, "Felicity thinks of you, you know. All the time. She also thinks of Sara. She feels guilty about her death that she keeps blaming herself. I think she might be suffering from anxiety. All of this is too much for her to take."

"Dreams?" Slade frowned, not really understanding what Colton was saying.

"She didn't tell you? Huh, I thought since you two were getting so close that she might have told you. I thought you knew. Why do you think Felicity kept insisting for you to take Hypnocil before going to sleep? If it weren't for her, you'd be dead," Colton sat down on one of the chairs, "I have the ability invade people's minds when they fall into slumber. I can turn their sweet dreams into god-awful nightmares. And I can also kill them, causing them to never wake up again."

"Sara Lance's death was in her sleep," Slade said. Now it was making sense to him, "You killed her, didn't you? You killed Sara Lance."

"Yes, I did," Colton said, "You should be happy Sara is dead though. You wanted to kill her and her boyfriend ever since your precious -."

"Don't you dare say her name!" Slade roared furiously, knowing that Colton was going to mention _Shado's_ name.

"It's not like she's going to appear like Voldemort. Cisco's right. You need an update. If you haven't seen the Harry Potter franchise, I suggest you watch them before you get even more confused. You've been on that island for too long. Anyways, yeah. I killed Sara and I tried to kill my daughter...twice, while she was still in a coma -."

"So that's why she was being revived in the hospital so many times. And the cuts she had on her arms in Sara's funeral. You tried to kill your own daughter. Why? Why are you targeting you own flesh and blood."

" _Flesh_ ," Colton muttered, "Isn't it funny how we men mention the word _flesh_ when referring to the woman, as if it were something sacred. I love my _flesh_ and blood. She is soft and sweet. She's better than her mother. It's a pity she lost her virginity to that Cooper Seldom boy. It doesn't matter. It was short-live anyways and Felicity promised herself she would never date again which means it's more game for me. I'm guessing she didn't tell you about Seldom either. And you didn't research him either did you? That's a shame. It would be interesting for you to hear what that Seldom boy did. I could but I think it might be better if Felicity told you herself."

Slade immediately grabbed him by the collar and slammed Colton against the wall. "Why are you here and what do you want!?"

Colton snapped back at him. "I want my daughter and I'm here to tell you to stay away from her. She's mine, not yours."

Colton never seemed to get the point. Felicity was never his and she was never Slade's either. She made her own choices. Felicity chose to sleep with Slade. He didn't force himself onto her. Colton didn't get the memo that Felicity was not a toy he could play with. Slade had tried but always failed since Felicity was always one step ahead of him. Slade learned to never underestimate her. Colton should learn that too.

"She was never yours to begin with," Slade reminded him, "You can't force her."

"Oh, you see, but I can," Colton chuckled, "I'm holding all the people she loves on the line. You. Donna. Oliver. Diggle. Laurel. Cisco. Caitlin. Rachel. She's an adorable little girl. I like her. The reason why I could never reach them is that I like to see my daughter paranoid, thinking that I might be killing them right now in their sleep. Unfortunately, Cisco is an insomniac. Rachel? Well, that's a whole other story. I can never reach her dreams, even without the Hypnocil pills. It's like she's trying to hide what she has in that little head of hers."

The thought of Colton hurting Rachel sickened Slade. _A child_. _She's just a child_. _A six-year-old child. The disgusting bastard_. "I'm warning you. If I hear any of them are harmed by mysterious circumstances, I will know it's you and I will kill you if it's the last thing I do. You stay away from Felicity. You stay away from Rachel and you will stay away from the boy, do I make myself clear?"

"I could never reach those little brats anyways," Colton chuckled again, "But I supposed I could give them a break. As for my Felicity, I can't keep that promise. She is my daughter after all, and I have every right to do as I please with her."

Infuriated with his words, Slade was about to knock him out with one punch in the face when Colton brought his hands up. "Before you that..." Slade stopped and frowned at him. What does he want now? "Aren't you wandering what happened to the waitress here? You entered here and probably wandered why the shop seemed so empty and Cisco was the only client. Also, he never got his coffee. He also wondered where the waitress was. I think he likes her."

In fact, Slade did wonder what happened to the waitress. Slade never saw a cup of coffee next to Cisco nor did he see anyone approach the table to take their order. And he also noticed the sign on the front door said CLOSED when Cisco was still inside. How did he not see that? Did Cisco seriously just waltz into the coffee shop without taking a look at the sign?

"For a smart boy, Cisco didn't look like he read the sign," Colton said. "He must really like the waitress. Probably has a crush on her."

"Where is she?" Slade hissed, shaking him, "What did you do?"

"Don't worry. She's fine. Of course, I have to warn, she's knocked out in the kitchen. And if you knock me out, it's lights out for her...permanently. You knock me out, I enter her dreams and kill her. So I suggest you let me go free and I'll let her live."

Heart rate pounding on his ears and his hands shaking furiously, Slade let Colton go. Colton chuckled and announced that he couldn't wait for Oliver Queen's trial tomorrow. It was going to be a real show.

As soon as Colton left, Slade bolted under the counter went directly to the kitchen where he found the waitress tied and knocked out in a corner. The name KENDRA SAUNDERS was labeled on her purple polo shirt now stained in blood. She had a bloody cut on her brown forehead. _Shit_.

Cisco reappeared from God-knows-where and gasped when he saw the waitress tied in the corner. "Kendra!? What did that son of bitch do!?"

"Find rubbing alcohol," Slade gave him an order. Cisco was flabbergasted and stammering. "I'll get her untied."

Slade untied her and Cisco brought the alcohol as told. Slade was able to wake her up by pouring the substance on a cloth and putting it near her nose. The scent of the alcohol made her cough and gag. After waking her, the Kendra girl cursed and said she was going to kill the son of a bitch. _You're going to have to get in line_ , Slade thought. He then suggested Cisco to call the police and report it.

Meanwhile, Slade decided to go back to Starling City. So many things were running through his mind. He didn't know what he needed to do first. Either warn her about what happened tonight or demand her answers. Or both. He could go to Diggle's apartment but was aware it would be a bad idea. John Diggle already saw Slade as a threat to Felicity. Walking into his apartment would mean trouble. Plus, Diggle's wife was there and she was a member of A.R.G.U.S. Definitely not a good idea. Many things were going through his head. Oliver. Felicity. Shado. Shado telling him to stop being so fucking pathetic all the time. It was driving him crazy. He needed to tell Felicity about Colton before it was too late.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter was loooooong. But it didn't take me that long to write.**

 **Well then, Colton is back and did a number on Cisco and Rachel. Not good for anyone. Then we got another character cameo and yet another TV reference in the chapter, if any of you spotted it. Plus Slade is already beginning to lose his mind.**

 **The next chapter is going to be called Trial Gone Bad. What's gonna happened? You'll have to read to find out. All I can say is that there's going to be another character death in the next chapter. I can't say who. But if you want, you can leave a guessing in the review.**


	28. Chapter 28: Judgement Day Part 1

**Here you go, guys, just as I promised, a new chapter to Black Smoak. I was going to have it divided into two parts but decided to change it this way. I hope you can forgive me for that last minute change. Read, follow and review if you want after this.**

* * *

It was time. The day of trial. It was the day everyone had waiting for. The day Oliver Queen will be set free or suffer death penalty. Felicity was nervous. Everyone was. Diggle was taking deep breaths and padding a napkin at his forehead. Felicity was clenching at her stomach through the pink dress she was wearing; she had her hair loose and a new pair of glasses on. She still felt a bit dizzy and nauseas from last night after passing out in front of Lyla. Felicity was forced to tell Diggle everything. Everything. From when she slept with Slade to the part of her father being a meta-human that killed people in their dreams. At first, Diggle didn't want to believe it but he knew that everything was making sense. The dead men Laurel was talking about, the attacks on Felicity and now Sara's death. It was all making sense. But there were a few things that didn't add up. What do the men the SCPD were investigating, have to do with anything about Felicity or Sara? How they all were connected? It was unclear but it was concerning, for everyone.

Diggle advised Felicity to be careful with Slade. He knew what she did was dangerous. What she did was careless and it could have gotten her killed. No doubt that Lyla told him before Felicity woke up. Slade was dangerous. He killed Moira Queen. If Slade planned to kill Oliver and everyone he loved, there was no doubt Felicity was part of that plan. Diggle was also part of the plan, and Lyla. Diggle was afraid Slade might just be using Felicity to get closer to Oliver. No one knew Slade very well. He was unpredictable.

" _You need to be careful, Felicity_ ," Diggle warned her, " _Slade could kill you. That's why people are scared of him."_

" _Trust me, Dig. I think there are far things scarier than Slade_ …"

Diggle and Felicity were waiting outside of the courtroom, waiting to be summoned by the judge. Everyone was. Lawyers. Testifiers. Slade. Isabel. Detective Lance. Laurel. Thea. Walter. Lyla wasn't with them. She stayed at home with Rachel. Felicity couldn't let Rachel get into this kind of mess. She already had a mess of her own and Diggle was glad of her decision. It wouldn't be a good place for kids, especially if the trial ended going south.

Diggle kept looking around. Isabel was talking loudly and obnoxiously on the phone. Slade was keeping a close eye on Felicity and Felicity was fighting not to stare back. Diggle knew she was feeling ashamed for the night before. He nearly scared her for the fainting.

" _It was the Hypnocil. It has its side effects. It makes me a bit dizzy but it works. It keeps me from having dreams. And it keeps my father from attacking me_."

Diggle didn't know what to think of Hypnocil. He remembered it being mentioned in a movie. He didn't think it would be real. But Felicity was taking it to keep her father away. He was also afraid she might grow addicted to it. Of course, Diggle took one just to be safe. " _He's a metahuman, Dig. He kills people in their sleep_." He also insisted Lyla to take one despite the risk it might put the baby in. " _I don't want you involved in this, Dig. My father will kill you and Lyla just for helping me. He has no patience. He is a monster, worse than Slade_." Diggle didn't think anyone could be worse than Slade. Now he knew to be careful for what he wished for. He kept telling Felicity that the situation with her father was not her fault. " _He's here for me. Everything else happening is because of me. He wants me and he'll kill anyone that gets in his way_."

His attention now drifted over to Laurel who was getting her evidence ready. She looked drained. Tired even. Her eyes looked puffy and her lips looked red. She wasn't even wearing lipstick. Diggle could tell that she was probably crying. Diggle was still in disbelief that Felicity told her about Oliver being the Arrow and Sara being the Canary. " _She's going to find out some time. I didn't know what I was doing. She had to know_." Diggle couldn't disagree with her. Laurel had to know some time around. She had to know her sister was the Canary. Of course, he didn't think she needed to know _that_ soon. Felicity just blurted it out like a tape recorder. Diggle could understand why she said it. She was already too stressed. Her new abilities. Sara's death. Her father chasing her. It was all eating her alive. All that guilt. And it made her more emotionally unstable.

" _I killed Sara, Dig. She was trying to defend me and I got her killed_." That was all she kept saying.

"Felicity —."

" _It's my fault she's dead_."

"Dig." Felicity's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He turned his attention to Felicity. She looked worried. "I'm scared, for Oliver. What if it doesn't go well?"

"Listen, Oliver is going to be fine. You just need a bit of faith."

Felicity sighed. "So far, having a faith isn't taking us anywhere. I'm also worried about Rachel. I don't like leaving her alone."

"She'll be fine," he assured her, "Lyla will take good care of her."

"Well, I'm worried about her too. Who knows if my father will attack them while we're gone?"

"Don't be so negative," Diggle said.

Of course, Felicity made a fair point. What if Colton did try to attack Lyla and Rachel while they were here at court? They were baits waiting at home. Diggle could lose his baby. He hoped for the trial to be over quickly.

Diggle then noticed Slade approaching both him and Felicity. He was approaching Felicity, and he did not look happy. Taking precautions, Diggle stood in the way to keep them at a safe distance. Felicity simply stared in shock while Slade let out an annoyed growled.

"What do you want, Slade?" Diggle asked sternly. Slade simply scoffed while trying to get passed him but Diggle wouldn't have it. "I'm warning you, Slade. Keep your distance. Don't make a scene."

"I simply wish to speak to Felicity," Slade said as politely as possible. Diggle could tell Slade was not in the mood.

"If you want to say something to her, say it right here."

Slade's expression grew darker. "This matter is between me and her, _Mister_ Diggle."

"Dig, it's okay," Felicity assured him, "I'll be fine. It's nothing serious. I hope."

Felicity brushed past Diggle and he watched both disappear into one of the hallways. Diggle didn't like Felicity being around Slade. After seeing the bruises, Diggle knew that Slade could easily hurt, even if not intentionally. Felicity was not safe around Slade and he wouldn't be around to protect her if something happened.

* * *

It didn't take too long before Felicity was grabbed by the arm and dragged into the next hallway where they wouldn't be seen. Felicity hissed and protested as his hold tightened around her arm.

"Stop that," she tugged at her arm, "Don't do that. You don't drag women like that. That's not cool, Slade, at all."

They both stopped in their tracks. Slade turned to give Felicity a glare and her voice was immediately caught in her throat. She didn't know why Slade was so mad right now. She hoped he wasn't still mad about her shutting down his car in the middle of traffic. It was just a game, he didn't need to take it personally.

"Look, I'm really sorry about the car," she babbled nervously, "It was only once. It won't happen again."

"Forget about the car. Your father's abilities, how did he get them?" he asked. Immediately, Felicity was left mute. Speechless. And shocked. She never told Slade of being a metahuman, as far a she knew. She didn't tell him anything.

"How do you? _How_ do you know?" she asked.

"Your _father_ told me," he explained, using the word like venom, "He followed me to Central City. He threatened Cisco and threatened a young girl named Kendra Saunders he had tied up in the kitchen. He told me about his abilities and threatened to use them on the Saunders girl if I knocked him out."

Felicity stammered and tears pricked in her eyes. "Oh my…my God. And Cisco? Is he okay? Did he do anything to him?"

"He's fine," he assured her, finally letting go of her arm, "Frightened but fine. He was lucky I was still standing between him and your father. He said so many despicable things that I simply wanted to tear his head off."

"W-what sort of despicable things?" Felicity dared herself to ask even though she didn't want to know. Slade then told her about how her father like children no matter what gender they were. Colton didn't care if the child was a boy or a girl. Even though Cisco was a bit older now, Colton mentioned that he would make an exception. This both shocked and disgusted Felicity. She covered her mouth to stifle out her cries so no one could hear her. "Oh my God. Why can't he just leave me alone? Why can't he just leave them all alone? What more does he want from me?"

"Tell me about them. Now," he commanded. _Boy, Slade, would it kill you to say please for once_ , she thought.

Felicity sighed. "Colton is a metahuman. I didn't know it until Sara's funeral where he attacked me in my sleep."

"Which explains why you were screaming bloody murder at the funeral home."

"He invades people's dreams and turns them to nightmares but also kills you in real life."

"I think he wants you," Slade said more calmly.

"No shit, Sherlock. The only reason he hasn't attacked me these days is because I was taking Hypnocil which represses dreams which is the reason why I needed you to take them for me." Felicity took a few deep breaths, now feeling fuzzy. She didn't know if it was from the effects of Hypnocil or from the stress. She was thinking both. She tried to calm herself down as much as possible. "And Kendra?"

"She's fine," he said, "She's scared but fine. Both of them are. I told Cisco to report the situation to the police which he did. He is a smart man."

She nodded in agreement. "He is…I have to tell John."

"You will not tell John Diggle anything."

"Slade, he already knows about my father. I had to tell him. I also told about…He saw the bruises" Felicity pulled up her sleeve to show him the purple blotches decorating her wrist. "I had to tell him. I had no choice."

"You shouldn't have done that —."

"It's not like I planned it, Slade. If I did, you'd be seeing me walking around in a tank top and shorts exposing the bruises for everyone to see," she said, "But about my father? Diggle and Lyla are in danger because of me. Who knows if Oliver might be in danger too? I don't know if he also got attacked during the nights he spent in jail."

Slade stared at her wrist. He tried brushing off the night they slept together. But he couldn't. It felt all too good, having her willingly in his bed and letting him do what he wanted with her. She practically begged for it. But he did feel regretful for it. Felicity was in emotional pain and she wanted it to go away. Instead, Slade replaced that emotional pain with a physical one.

Yes, Felicity went willingly and yes, he was trying to be gentle with her. But lust overcame him and he moved more roughly inside her, holding her wrists tighter as well as her hips in order to still her struggling. He didn't know if Felicity remembered but she cried during the rough play Slade inflicted upon her. He was enjoying it too much, feeling her hair between his fingers, her vaginal walls tightening around his member with each thrust, her lips quivering with whimpers, the sounds of her sobs, and the taste of her skin when he bit into her breast. It exactly how imagined it would be like with her when he was having sex with Isabel back in Queens Consolidated **(Read Chapter 6)**. He became so infatuated with having her that he didn't thing of her well-being. He didn't think about whether he would have broken her wrists or her hipbone for holding her too tightly, nor did he think he could have drawn blood from biting her. He was too lost in the moment. Now seeing her bruised wrist, he regret what he did to her. He now felt like he raped her. She never begged for him to stop but she did struggle under him.

He didn't want to hurt her again.

"We can discuss about my father later after Oliver's trial —."

"Oliver Queen. It's always about Oliver —."

Felicity folded her arms over her chest. She knew Slade was acting childish again. "Look who's talking Mr. I-Need-To-Kill-Oliver-Queen-Because-He's-An-Asshole…That made no sense at all, by the way… The only reason why I want Oliver out of jail because he's innocent and he never hurt Sara. And he's my friend. And I have every right to defend him. And if you want to stop me, you're going to have to kill me, Slade."

"Do you want me to kill you? Because I will if I have to." Slade was all up in her face. Felicity hated it when people did that. She knew that this whole revenge shit was getting out of hand and freaking ridiculous. It was obvious what Slade had to do to clear this predicament up. Drop it and move on. But what she hated to admit was that letting go of such horrors was difficult than anyone could imagine. It's like when she saw her mother die. She could never forget that nor could she forgive herself. The same thing with Cooper. Seeing what happened to Cooper devastated her. The first thing she wanted to do was move on. It was difficult for her. But as year went by, she was already piecing her life together. She had a job…Two jobs to be exact. She made friends which she now considered family. And was able to surpass her traumas. But with Colton returning, everything she wanted to let go was coming back to haunt her.

It was just like Slade with Shado. He loved her, even if she didn't love him back. Felicity didn't know that though. She didn't know anything about Shado. She didn't know if she loved Slade or not. Oliver loved Shado too. He mentioned her being brave and kind, and that she would be horrified by what Slade was doing in her name. Slade could never let go of what he loved most. Felicity understood his pain. But she knew that Slade couldn't make everyone else suffer because of his anger. Oliver was already suffering. That's what Slade wanted. He wanted Oliver to suffer the same pain. Oliver was already suffering Sara's death. _What more does he want? How much does he want him to suffer?_

"So you can avenge your loved one? Go ahead. Kill me. I don't care. I rather be dead than continue with this shitty game. I'm done, Slade. I'm done playing his games," she squinted her eyes at him daringly, "Just one snap in the neck and you're done with me."

Looking down at her, Slade put his hand to her neck and slowly backed her up against the wall. Felicity's breath shifted and she tensed up when his hold tightened. He inched closer until his face was just a few inches away from hers. His thumb brushed against her lower lip.

He was tempted in kissing her sweet lips. He wanted to kiss her to simply get it out of his system. It was driving him mad. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He could neither kiss her nor kill her. He wanted to so badly. But he felt he was betraying everything he planned to do. He felt he was betraying Shado and Adeline. He couldn't kiss Felicity without being sure he wasn't going to fall in love her.

"I can't."

"…I know why you don't want to…kiss me, I mean. The killing part is another story. I know why you don't want to kiss me," she said. "It's about —."

"Please, don't say her name."

She looked at him sorrowfully. "…Why not? What difference does it make? What could happen? Are you going to kill anyone that tries to mention her name or anyone that has the same name? Because I can assure you there a lot of girls with the same name." Felicity immediately became frustrated when he didn't answer her instantly. "Does it hurt that badly?"

"…Too much." It hurt like a punch in the gut. But he didn't want anyone to see it, not even Felicity.

"You're hurting too much and you're taking it all on Oliver. You think it's his fault but Slade, you and I both know that he—."

"Whose side are you, Miss Smoak?" he snapped.

Felicity was taken aback for a moment. She didn't expect for him to use her last name that way, especially when he was that angry.

She gritted her teeth at him. "Obviously the man who's in court waiting for his innocence to be proven…Even if we fucked, I'm not siding with a cynical asshole that wants my friend dead because of something that…you can't…Why don't you just stop, Slade? Please —."

"What else do you want me to do, Felicity!?" he snapped at her again. "What more do you want!? Do you simply want me to openly forgive Oliver just like that!?"

Felicity kept shaking her head a tear began to trickle down her cheek. "I'm not saying you _should_ forgive him, Slade. I'm not saying you shouldn't be angry with. You have every right to be angry with him. If you don't want to forgive him, don't forgive him. If you want to be angry with him, be angry. Be angry all you want. But please, Slade, stop punishing him. Stop punishing his entire family. Stop punishing the people he loves. You already killed his mother. And Sara is already dead. He's already punished enough. Can't you see that? He's already punished."

Slade responded by gently wiping away the tear from her face. "I thought you of all people would understand since you and I have so many things in common." Felicity simply stared at him. "You and I both know that you want your father dead for the terrible things he did. The way he violated children. And for killing Sara….And yes, I finally know he killed her. And now I know what happened to you at Queens Consolidated. Looks like you have a real Freddy Krueger on your hands."

"It's a cliché, I'm guessing. But like every other cliché it's the truth. Yes, he is like Freddy Krueger…But he's worse. You have no idea how much I want him to pay for what he did to me, my mother and Sara. But I can't do it without causing everyone else around me to suffer. He'll do anything to have me. One wrong move and people I care about are dead in one night. There's a difference between you and me, Slade. I'm using my brain. I'm trying to figure out a way out of this without costing another life."

"Are you saying that I'm stupid?" he asked.

"I'll put this in a very _blunt_ way. Yes. You're stupid. You are the smartest and yet stupidest man I've ever met. And I've met intelligent and yet stupid men before."

"Like you're friend Cooper."

Felicity looked at him with horrifying eyes. He knew about Cooper. Colton told Slade about Cooper. The question, how much did he tell him?

"Your father told me about Cooper. All he said that it's something only _you_ can tell me about." She turned to walk away but Slade snatched her arm and yanked her back. "What happened to you back then? Let me help."

"You can help by not killing Oliver," she said with pleading eyes, "I know you have a gun with you. I know what you're planning on using it for."

"Stop changing the subject. I haven't decided whether to go that far or not." Slade was preparing for that moment to decide. Would he kill Oliver or let him go? If he killed Oliver, he would lose Felicity. If he decided not to kill Oliver, he would lose his opportunity to avenge Shado. _You're throwing away everything for a woman who's already dead, Slade_. And the strangest part was that Felicity wasn't trying to stop him. She could try to take the gun away from him, even though she couldn't even if she tried. But she was letting him do what he had to do, as long as he could live with the consequences of his actions. He knew that if he pulled the trigger on Oliver, Felicity would never want to see or speak to him ever again.

"Let me make the choice easy for you," Felicity gritted her teeth at him, her facial features growing darker. "Goodbye, Slade."

"Felicity, please," he said. Felicity wrenched her arm away from his grasp and began to stomp away from him. Slade followed her. "Where are you going? I'm not done talking to you."

"I'm going to the ladies room, dumbass, I need to pee!" she snapped at him before pushing open the door and bolting right in. Slade figured this was her way of getting away from him. A way to stay away from the conversation. He understood that Felicity was still hurt but he really wished she would just talk to him. He wished she would stop cowering and talked him. But then again, who was he to talk. Slade let her be. He understood that perhaps things would get better after Oliver's trial, if he didn't kill first at least.

Slade heard the tapping sound of a foot. He looked over his shoulder to see a young woman sitting on the bench looking up at him from a book she was reading. A girl with fair skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair with white streaks at the bottom. _Kids today and their hair dye_. Of course, Slade wondered how long she was sitting there and how long she was listening to their conversation.

"What are you looking at?" Slade asked harshly, hoping that his rough attitude would scare her away. She didn't flinch away, however. She just continued staring at him.

"Nothing, just reading…and listening to music," she said while holding up her headphones. She had the same accent Slade had, he figured. He hoped that she didn't listen to the conversation he and Felicity were having.

"Carry on then," he said before walking away.

The young woman watched Slade walk away, disappearing to the next hall. As soon as he left, the young woman snapped the book close and snuck inside the bathroom quietly and snuck inside one of the bathroom stalls. She sat there on the toilet and pressed her ear against the grey wall where she heard Felicity's quiet sobs.

* * *

Once everyone was inside the courtroom, the judge ordered them to sit down. Felicity stared at the judge, an old man with round glass and a mustache and wiry hair coming out of his ears. It was a bit of a disturbing sight to see. He looked a bit over eighty.

"Oliver, how do you plead yourself?" the judge asked Oliver, the defendant.

"Innocent," he said. Laurel was sitting next to him, looking through the files she had in a folder in her suitcase. Diggle and Thea were sitting behind them. Felicity showed up a few minutes later after cleaning away her tears and sat with them as well. She wasn't going to give Slade the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She was going to have her head strong and held high and not cry for anyone, except for the people she loved which were Oliver, Laurel, Diggle, Donna, Rachel and Thea.

Oliver was called out to the witness stand where the judge looked down at him with a skeptical glare. "Oliver Queen, you are being charged with serious crimes of first degree murder against the victim Sara Lance. Do you promise to speak the truth and only the truth?"

"I do," he said.

"Oliver Queen, were you and Sara Lance in a relationship?" Laurel asked. The prosecutor objected, claiming that the victim's family member shouldn't be in charge of defending the accused. Of course, Laurel was simply doing her job. It had nothing to do with her feelings for Oliver. It was about finding the truth. Laurel only wanted to know what happened to Sara. "Do you deny having been present at the night of her death?"

Oliver shook his head. "No, I don't deny it."

"But you deny killing Sara Lance that night?" she asked.

Slade looked over to where Felicity sat. Slade sat the other side of the court with Isabel. She was the one who hired the prosecutor. She remained focused on Oliver. She didn't look once at his direction.

"I had nothing to do with Sara's death," Oliver denied.

Isabel was called to testify. "Oliver Queen has always been the most irresponsible person I've ever met. Period. The reason why I believe Oliver could have killed Sara is because he hates losing, especially to women. When I became official CEO of Queens Consolidated, Mr. Queen attacked me in demands for me to return his company…."

The trial had been going on for at least two hours with everything being said differently in every way

"…Does Oliver Queen also deny this?"

"…Yes I deny it. I simply attacked her because I thought she might have been involved with my sister's kidnapping."

"And was she?"

"…No. She was right with us when Thea was kidnapped…."

Now it was Detective Quentin Lance's turn to testify. Of course, Lance wasn't very clear with his claims. "…My daughter Sara disappeared on that boat and we all thought she was dead. Oliver was responsible for my daughter's disappearance and apparent death. There's no doubt in my mind that Oliver was responsible for her death as well."

"…Are you saying that Mr. Queen is lying to the very court about his innocence?"

Felicity could see the redness growing in Lance's face. How angry he was about Laurel defending the man being accused of murder. Lance really believed Oliver killed Sara and believed that Laurel was letting her feelings for him cloud her judgement. "That's exactly what I'm saying…Oliver has his secrets he doesn't like sharing with the rest of the people and those secrets are what got Sara killed…"

Now it was Thea's turn to testify. Felicity found it a bit unnecessary to involve Thea into this. She was already suffering her mother's death and Roy abandoning her. She didn't need any more weight on her shoulders. "…Oliver kept a lot of secrets from me and my mom. He never talks about them. Both of them lied to me. They didn't tell me that Malcolm Merlyn is my father. But I do think Oliver killed Sara? No, I don't think he killed Sara. Oliver is a lot of things but not a killer…"

It was Diggle's turn to testify now. "…To tell you the truth, Oliver used to sneak out on me when I was paid to guard him. I am his bodyguard. But he looked like he didn't need one. He looked like he could take care of himself. If you ask me if he would sneak out to meet with Sara, you're asking the wrong man…"

Diggle continued claiming Oliver was innocent. Slade then took his turn in testifying against Oliver, claiming how he agreed with Isabel about Oliver being irresponsible and having a reputation of being with a variety of women. He also explained Oliver's violent behaviour at parties five years before his disappearance in the ocean. Felicity nearly cringed at the fact on how right he was telling it even though Slade knew nothing about Oliver before that time. He probably must have read them in the papers. The prosecutor that was in support against Oliver even brought the substance of drugs and alcohol Oliver used five years ago. _Oh God_. Felicity felt like throwing up at any moment right now. All she wanted to do right now was slap Slade in the face and insult and many different ways possible. Of course Slade then said that even if Oliver did all those nasty things, having to kill an innocent woman was very unlikely. Felicity was surprised at this. She looked over at Isabel and could see she was displeased with this. Felicity could literally see her cheeks turning red with anger and clenching her jaw. When Laurel asked Slade if he believed that Oliver killed Sara, this was his response: "As I said before, Oliver Queen murdering an innocent woman would be very unlikely of him. Did he kill Sara Lance? I am not sure. I'm not saying that he did nor am I saying that he didn't. But killing a woman is very unlikely and practically impossible of him."

Afterwards, it was Felicity's turn. Of course, she wasn't feeling well. She was feeling light-headed again and her hands were shaking. She explained to the judge that she was taking a medication that was making her dizzy. It was no excuse though. She had to testify or not testify at all. Felicity confessed that she was hanging out with Sara the last time they spoke to each other. She explained that they were both having dinner when Colton Smoak appeared. She explained how Sara told her to hide in the bathroom with Rachel while she got rid of him. The last thing she remembered seeing was Sara bashing Colton's head against the counter. She also remembered her father saying she would regret it.

"So you think Colton might have been the one who attack Sara Lance?" Laurel asked. Felicity could tell that Laurel was having a bit of trouble believing this. Even Felicity herself was having trouble believing. It would never make sense to anyone if she told them that Colton attacked Sara in her dreams. They would think she's crazy. She tried to make it much sense as possible.

"Maybe," Felicity pushed her glasses back as she said this, "It doesn't make any sense but I believe he did."

Laurel then took out a plastic bag. Inside the plastic bag, there was a small black box. Felicity immediately recognized it. It was the engagement ring Oliver told her to find under the bed. She gave it to Detective Lance as evidence. "You might tell me what this is?"

"It's an engagement ring," Felicity responded.

"Detective Lance informed me that you were in the crime scene when you found this," Laurel said. Felicity looked at Lance. He wouldn't look at her in return. "Did you put it there or did you simply found it?"

"I simply found it," she said, "I went to visit Oliver a few days after the funeral and he asked me to look for it under the mattress. I didn't know what it was until I found. Then Detective Lance appeared and I gave it to him."

"Thank you, Miss Smoak," the judge said, "You may return to your seat."

Felicity nodded in agreement and stepped down from the witness stand and returned to her seat. She noticed Slade looking passed her but she ignored him. She was now feeling a bit dizzy and nauseas. She felt like she was about to throw up. But tried very hard to hold it in as much as possible.

Laurel was now speaking to the entire court. "Why would Oliver Queen have this ring if he wanted to kill Sara Lance? It makes no sense. Killing your lover and then proposing to the corpse? If Oliver Queen wanted to kill Sara Lance, he wouldn't have this engagement ring….Mr. Queen, tell me, were you planning on proposing to Sara Lance?"

Oliver nodded. Felicity could see the tears prickling in his eyes. "Yes. We were having a great relationship and I thought…I thought of taking the next step on asking her to marrying me. But I never took the chance to propose to her when she died."

"And what were you doing when Sara was attacked?" Laurel asked, her jaw clenching. Felicity noticed that Laurel was doing a fantastic job in not snapping at Oliver. It's been an hour and she looked like she was about to crack any second.

"I was in the bathroom," Oliver said, "That's when I heard her scream…"

Felicity's eyes widened when he continued on. She knew where Oliver's story was going and was afraid of the consequences of it. If Oliver mentioned anything about Sara being attacked by some invisible force, not only will he be the mockery of the city, it would also make him look even guiltier. Everyone would think he's lying, including Laurel. And then Felicity would have to explain to Laurel about her father. And then the court would think she's crazy also. But Oliver promised he would tell the truth, even if no one would believe it.

* * *

Rachel continued poking at her macaroni and cheese Lyla prepared for lunch. After what happened at the orphanage, she didn't feel like eating. If she tried eating, she would want to throw it up. She was also worried about Felicity. Rachel wished she could help. There was nothing she could do though. She was only six. The whole situation is for the adults to deal with and it was obvious Felicity did want her involved in that sort of rabble. As much as she disliked Oliver, she knew that he didn't deserve going to jail for something he didn't do.

She noticed that Lyla Diggle was also having trouble eating her lunch. She didn't look like she wanted to eat lunch either. Rachel then watched Lyla open the freezer and take out a bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream. Rachel's blue eyes widened when she saw Lyla dump the ice cream into her lunch. _What was that?_ Rachel then remembered sensing another life forming inside Lyla's belly. She was pregnant. Rachel didn't comment on Lyla's weird craving for ice cream combined with steak and mash potatoes, and continued poking at her macaroni.

After a while, she put the fork down and sighed.

"Aren't you hungry?" Lyla asked. Rachel shook her head in response.

"Felicity," she said, "Is she okay?"

"Oh, sweetie, Felicity is going to be fine. She's just needs to help Oliver with a few things," Lyla explained.

Rachel knew that Lyla was trying to stay away from the topic of Oliver being trialed for murder. She wasn't dumb.

That's when the idea dawned her.

She waited for Lyla to take away her plate and waited for her to lean into the fridge. While having Lyla turned around, Rachel quietly opened one of the drawers and took out a small white candle and a box of matches. She hid them behind her back just before Lyla turned to face her again.

"Do you want something else?" she asked. "A cupcake?"

"No thanks," Rachel shook her head and carefully slid off her chair. She was already too small to sit on a high chair, "I'm going to read for a while."

"Okay…"

Rachel immediately went to her room and locked the door shut. She didn't want to be interrupted for what she planned to do. She needed silence. She needed concentration.

She kneeled on the floor and placed the candle in front of her. She took a match and lit the candle up. Rachel knew that if anyone knew the truth about Sara Lance's death…it would be Sara Lance herself.

She closed her eyes and began muttering like a prayer: " _Taswyl ab Ocolosw, E xyzyypw uai. E ilry uai sa lyjyod swyzy hyahdy slisw. E ilry uai sa ahyf swyel yuyz. E ozn ofk ilry sa xlefr swy zheles ab Zolo Dofpy za zwy tou lyjyod swy slisw ab wyl kyosw sa swy hyahdy oppizefr Adejyl Viyyf bal zefz wy kek fas pattes. Zolo Dofpy, E zittaf uail zheles. Olezy ofk lyjyod swy slisw._ (Mother of Azarath, I beseech you. I urge you to reveal these people truth. I urge you to open their eyes. I ask and urge to bring the spirit of Sara Lance so she may reveal the truth of her death to the people accusing Oliver Queen for sins he did not commit. Sara Lance, I summon your spirit. Arise and reveal the truth.)"

* * *

Oliver shared his side of the story. "I was in the bathroom when I heard Sara scream."

"And what did you do?" Laurel asked.

"I ran back into the room to see if she was okay," he said. "That's when I saw it. She was thrashing on the bed, screaming bloody murder. She was asleep. She was screaming in her sleep. I tried waking her up. She punched me in the face. I don't think she did it on purpose. She was still asleep."

"And then what happened?"

Felicity sighed when Oliver finally said it. "She was suddenly hovering in the air. She was still screaming. And then there were these wounds appearing on her body. She then coughed up blood and landed back on her bed. She was already dead."

"You make it sound like a Freddy Kruger movie, Mr. Queen," Laurel said.

"It doesn't like a Freddy Kruger story but it's true," Oliver continued, "Sara died in her sleep. I don't know how but it's true. You have to believe me. I would never hurt Sara. I loved her. And _she_ loved me."

Laurel continued staring at Oliver glumly. It was hard for Laurel to take this all in, Felicity knew. No thanks to her, Laurel just found out that Oliver was the Arrow and Sara was the Canary. They had been lying right to her face. Felicity really was sorry for blurting it out too soon. Felicity took out a folder which she handed it over to the judge. "These were taken in the Seattle Police Department by Olivia Moore. She confirmed it not to be stab wounds. The depth of the wounds are equally and they all share a pattern."

The judge opened the folder and looked at the photos in them. He frowned at the sight of the wounds. "Are those —?"

"Bite marks," Laurel finished his sentence and turned to face the court, "And not just any bite marks. They are the bite of an animal. Not a human. An animal. Now, judge, would you tell me what kind of animal attacked her?"

The judge continued reading the documents and his eyes widened behind the round-framed glasses. "These are shark bites."

"Correct."

Things began to heat up. The entire court were in complete bewilderment by this. Felicity's breathing, however, was becoming uncomfortable. She was breathing sharply through the nose and was feeling a bit light-headed. Slade looked over his shoulder to see her pressing a hand to her chest as if she were having a heartburn. He wanted to ask her if everything was okay but he was already tired of getting more lip from Isabel. She was really pissed about the testimony. But Slade did what he thought was right. He didn't lie. He knew that Oliver would be incapable of killing Sara. He also promised the judge he wouldn't lie. Besides, he wasn't doing this for Oliver, he was doing this for Felicity. He didn't like the way their argument went outside of court. Both of them were a bit out of control. Both of them went to a fight going nowhere. Both of them were at wrong. Both of them ended upset, mostly Felicity. He didn't like Felicity walking out of the argument and using the ladies room as an excuse but he couldn't bare hearing her cry. Yes, he could hear her cry from the other side of the hall. He hated hearing her cry. It was unbearable. Even though it didn't guarantee that he wouldn't kill Oliver Queen but at least it made Felicity feel better.

No one understood why Sara was killed by being mauled by a shark. It made no sense. No shark would walk on land to kill Sara. The prosecutor tried to deny it as pure nonsense. Laurel, however, had proof of it. She showed pictures of three dead men. One was hanging from a ceiling in a janitor's closet with a noose around his neck. The other was lying dead on his bed.

"These men have died in mysterious circumstances. Samuel Brawn. Vincent O' Connor. The doctors thought they may have committed suicide. But their current history didn't add up to the reason why they would want to commit suicide but there's more to it…"

Laurel then explained the men that died showed signs of being murdered but they didn't have any fingerprints nor were there signs of any break-ins or signs of struggle. It was so eerie.

Felicity was still having that feeling. The feeling of nausea. The feeling of wanting to pass out. She kept shaking her head, trying to keep everything into focus but without success. And she kept hearing a voice in her head calling out her name. _Felicity_. _Felicity_. _Felicity_.

"What do all these people have in common? They all died in their sleep. And just like Oliver Queen claimed, Sara Lance died in their sleeves. Their deaths are connected to a new syndrome the doctors recently discovered. They call it the Baku syndrome."

"What does Baku mean, Miss Lance?" the judge asked.

"It's a Japanese spirit in mythology dating 14th to 15th century," Laurel explained, "It devours dreams and nightmares…."

 _You know that she's lying right_. Felicity continued hearing the voice in her head. _She's lying for Ollie. You and I both know who did it_. The voice in her head wasn't hers but it sounded very familiar. _They need to know before things get out of hand_. _They're not going to believe Oliver nor will they believe Laurel_.

It was correct. Baku spirits are meant to be friendly; they take away the bad nightmares from children. It protected children from their worst nightmares. But Laurel is making the Baku sound like a nightmarish monster which made no sense at all. If the doctors are calling it the Baku Syndrome, they would have to read Chinese and Japanese mythology. The funny thing is that Felicity didn't know anything about a Baku, in fact, she didn't know anything about Chinese or Japanese mythology. It just popped into her head somehow.

The jury were giving Laurel skeptical looks. They didn't believe anything Laurel said. Everyone were looking at them like they were crazy. They won't condemn Oliver to death row, they would condemn him to an asylum. She knew this very well if the judge continued listening to all this killer nightmare nonsense. _Oliver could die if I don't say anything soon_. But no one would believe that Colton was a metahuman responsible for Sara's death. And Felicity was afraid to say anything, knowing that no one would believe her and was afraid to have Laurel hating her. She knew she couldn't stay quiet forever though. _Just let me talk, Felicity_. _Let me talk, please_.

A few more minutes later, the judge and the jury decided to take an hour break to discuss the whole ordeal. They would check on the evidence Laurel showed plus other thing the prosecutor brought in. They would discuss if anything said or shown was valid to the crime. Felicity doubted that. _You need to let me talk_.

Felicity stood up so she could stretch her legs. They were already becoming numb from the many hours of sitting. She still felt light-headed. Diggle helped her stand up.

"Are you okay? You look like you're about to throw up," he asked.

"Yeah, but I'm fine," she said, "I'm just tired. I think it's the Hypnocil again."

"You need to eat something, girl, you already look green," he said.

" _I_ look green?" she chuckled, "Look who's talking? You're the one with the grumbling stomach."

Diggle groaned in frustration. "Aw man, you heard that, didn't you?"

Felicity chuckled. "I think the entire city heard it."

"I think I spotted a vending machine across the hall. Do you want anything from there?"

"Do _I_ want anything? M &Ms and a Snickers." How Felicity loved M&Ms! The Snickers were for Rachel though. "But not the M&Ms with peanuts, please."

Diggle left the court room. Felicity knew that he needed a bit of alone time to clear his head up. The trial was already becoming too much for them both.

From a distance, she could hear Slade and Isabel arguing in a corner. Isabel was definitely not happy for what Slade said on the witness stand. Slade was trying very hard to get her to calm down but Felicity could tell that he was simply trying very hard not crack her skull in half in order to shut her up.

"Do you want to take this opportunity to tell me what the fuckshit you were thinking?" she hissed at him.

"I did what I thought would be correct," Slade shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see what I did wrong there, Isabel. The judge wanted a full honest statement. I gave him what he needed to hear."

"We were supposed to testify _against_ Oliver Queen, not testify in his favour."

"I didn't testify in his favour. I didn't testify against him either. I was only testifying in what I believe is the truth."

"Well, your _honesty_ is going to get us all in trouble. If you're having second thoughts right now, just tell me," Isabel insisted. "You have the gun. Oliver is right there with his guard down and no one looking after him. Just pull the trigger and get it over with."

"Not yet," he said, "We need to wait if the jury decides to find him innocent or guilty. If he's guilty, then there is no need to kill him. If he's innocent, we'll kill him right there and now. Oliver is not leaving this court room alive."

"Really? You don't have the balls to kill him, Slade," she continued hissing at him. "You think I don't know why haven't killed him yet? I keep looking at you. And the entire time I've looked at you, you've been eyeing at that fucking IT girl. It's been about her. It's always been about her. Ever since you saw her in that blue dress in the board meeting, you've become obsessed with her. And now that we have Oliver right where we want him, you're holding back because of her. It's always about her."

"Isabel —."

"I'm warning you, Slade," she snapped back, "Either do this by the time trial is over, or I'm killing that blonde bitch of yours."

Slade simply chuckled. He would never let Isabel go near Felicity even if she tried. He wasn't going to let Isabel's threats phase him. "I'll be right back…By the way, I fucked her. And she liked it."

 **(BURN!)**

Saying that, Isabel's eyes nearly bulged out. She didn't expect him to blurt it out just like that. Felicity also heard that and buried her face in her hands in embarrassment. Slade literally just blurted that he and Felicity had sex and said it directly to Isabel's face. Yikes.

Slade left Isabel's side, leaving her stunned, and headed over to where Felicity and the others were. Oliver continued glaring at him as well as Laurel and Thea. Laurel took a stand in front of Oliver to make sure Slade didn't go near him. Slade chuckled at Laurel's incompetence and lack of thinking. Did she really think that keeping Oliver hidden behind her would stop him from killing them both?

"Slade, you already said what you had to say," Laurel said, "You're not allowed to be near him."

"Actually, it's me who has something to say to him," Felicity said as she grabbed Slade by the arm. Laurel and Oliver looked at her in shock. But she ignored them. "Excuse me."

She pulled Slade to other side of the court where they wouldn't have prying ears listening to them. She crossed her arms over her chest at him. "Did you really just tell Isabel that we had sex?"

"Yes I did," he said with a casual nod.

"You said Isabel would kill me if she ever found out. Why did you just randomly blurt out that we had sex?"

"I simply wanted her to leave me be," he said.

"By saying that we had sex?"

"Why should you be angry about this? You're the one who doesn't like keeping secrets and yet, you're keeping a few of them."

Felicity stared at him in disbelief. That was a very low blow right there. "Do you think I like keeping secrets? Because I don't. What's next? Are you going to tell her I was the one hiding in the bathroom too?"

"Maybe I should."

"Did you really come all the way over here to tell me this or do you really like being a jackass?" she asked.

"I came to see if you were feeling all right," he said, "I've been watching you the entire time. You didn't look very well."

"I'm just tired. The trial is exhausting and I haven't eaten anything," she gave him the best excuse as possible. "But I'm fine. Dig went over to get me something from the vending machine."

"So I see," Slade mumbled.

"…Thank you," she then said. Slade looked at her puzzled.

"For what?"

"For what you said in the witness stand," she said, "For not saying mean lies about Oliver. For being completely honest."

"Just to make things clear, Felicity, the only reason why I said those words is because you insisted me to. Not because I wanted to. I did this for you, not for him."

"…I'm sorry you had to go through with that then. But I'm glad you did. I just…don't want you going down that dark path."

"I'm already going down that dark path, Felicity."

"Then don't. Get out of there. Because if you don't, you're going to regret badly. You won't just lose me, you'll lose your humanity."

"I already lost my humanity the moment I killed Moira Queen," he said. He already felt like he was turning into his brother Wade. What was worse was that he never wanted to be like his brother. Wade already lost his humanity even before he raped a girl in an alley. It all started with Adeline's grandfather, the old man Wade stabbed.

"No, you still have it," she said, "because if you don't have it, I wouldn't be here right now. Please Slade."

"I can't promise you anything, love," he sighed.

"You have the gun. Give it to me and let it go," she said, "I know that you're planning to kill Oliver by the end if he's found innocent. If you try killing him, I will try to stop."

"You can't stop me, Felicity. Not even with that _cry_ of yours," he said, "You know that fully well."

"I know," she nodded in agreement, "But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to die trying."

With that, she left his side and returned to her seat. She looked over at Oliver who was giving her a concerned look. "What did you say to him?"

"Um, I just lectured him, that's all," she sighed before saying to him, "Oliver, you have to get out of here, Slade is going to —."

Unfortunately, the judge and the jury returned to the court room. And everyone took their seats. Diggle returned to court with the bag of M&M's and Snickers Felicity requested. Diggle got himself a bag of Doritos. She was too late to warn Oliver about Slade attempting to kill him. _You have to do something_.

"Oliver Queen, before the jury decides," the judge said, "Is there anything you'd like to say in your defense?"

Oliver stood up from his chair and adjusted his tie. Felicity wondered what the hell he was doing. "Yes, judge, I do have something to say." He then looked over at Slade. "I'm sorry." The entire court fell silent. Felicity simply stared at Oliver in shock. Was he really apologizing to Slade? For what? "I'm sorry, Slade. For putting you through hell on that island. For not telling you the truth. And for letting Shado die. You were right. It's all my fault. I should have done something to save her. But I didn't, because I was too stupid to actually do anything about it. I should have let him kill me instead of having him kill her. And I was stupid not telling you the truth when I had the chance. You can hate me. You can kill me. It doesn't matter. You win. But I just want you to know that I really am sorry. For everything."

Felicity's tearful eyes looked over at Slade. She noticed how red in the face he was. How furious he was at Oliver's words. He looked like he was about to explode. Felicity, damn it, let me in!

Her mind snapped when she saw Slade take out his gun from the inner pockets of his coat and aim it at Oliver. "YOU SON OF BITCH!" he roared furiously, "I should have killed you when I met you—!"

"Slade don't!" Felicity screamed as she stood up and immediately stood in front of him before he fired the gun and the bullet struck Felicity in the shoulder.

Felicity fell to the floor, now dazed and her shoulder burning in agony. The entire court started screaming and backing away from the spot.

"Felicity!" Oliver yelled as he ran to her side. Diggle grabbed Thea by the arm and dragged her away in horror. Quentin did the same with a screaming Laurel. Oliver held Felicity close and checked on the wound on her shoulder blade. Aside from the bullet hole, he also saw bruises blotching across her shoulder. He looked up Slade and shouted at him. "What did you do!?"

"This is _your_ fault, Oliver!" Slade shouted, "You made me do this!"

"You shot her!"

"I never wanted to shoot her! I never wanted to shoot her but she got in the way! To protect you! She made her choice!"

The guards came in and tried to stop Slade from shooting anyone else. But Isabel grabbed a gun and began shooting at them. She killed three of the guards and wounded the other. "We need to leave, Slade!" she shouted.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Slade shouted back at her. He needed to make sure Felicity was alive. He couldn't just leave her like this.

"Are you demented!? Forget about that bitch and let's go!"

"No!"

Felicity was taking a few deep breaths in her head. Her ears were filled with white noise. She could hear Slade and Oliver shouting at each other even if the voices were faint. _Don't blackout, Felicity_. She tried listening to that voice in her head and do as she said. She knew that voice from somewhere. It sounded like… _Felicity, let me in_. "Sara," she whispered.

The lights around the court began to flicker on and off repeatedly, sending everyone in the court into more panic.

It took all of her strength to push Oliver away from her and crawled away from him, her back turned to them both. Slade tried to grab her by the arm to help her out but she immediately yanked her arm away. "Don't touch me," she growled. Saying that, Slade took a step back. Felicity slowly stood, her legs wobbling as they tried to support her weight. She craned her neck around, making her bones crack.

"Felicity. Felicity are you okay?" Oliver asked, slowly standing up from the floor. "Felicity. Let's get you to a hospital."

"…I'll go," she said, "But I have to say something to you. I have to tell you something before it's too late."

Oliver noticed that something wasn't right. Felicity was acting strange. Maybe she was just angry with Slade for shooting her. But she really needed to go to a hospital before she could bleed out.

Felicity turned around, only it wasn't Felicity Oliver was staring at. "Sara?"

"Hi Ollie."

* * *

 **Part 1 is done and here comes part two. Sorry about the issues.**


	29. Chapter 29: Judgement Day Part 2

**Part 2 is up and going. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"You guys are a bunch of jackasses, especially you Wilson," Sara snapped at them both but she was pointing a finger at Slade. "You two bickering like a bunch of whining brats while you should be more concerned about the dangers happening outside this court. You know, Felicity didn't say anything until now because she thought she could handle it herself and thought you two would get your own heads out your assess without assistance but turns out she was wrong."

Slade stared at Sara in disbelief. That couldn't be Sara. She was dead. "How are you still alive?"

"I'm not, douchelord. I'm dead. How am I still here? I don't know. But I know that I don't have enough time left," she said, "It was Colton. Colton did this to me. He killed me. He's a meta-human. He's been inside people's head during the nights and kills people in their sleep. He's the one that killed. Felicity didn't want to say anything because she was afraid Colton would come after you if she did. Both of you." She was referring to both Slade and Oliver. "Of course, I think it's _you_ she's been trying to protect the most, Slade. Oliver, you have no idea how sorry Felicity is for not telling you sooner but you have no idea how horrified she is, especially now."

"Sara." Sara looked over at the other side of the court to see Laurel and her father. They were both staring at her in bewilderment. She could tell that none of them could believe it was her. Tears pricked in Laurel's eyes. Sara nearly laughed in contentment. How much she missed her. Sara was actually feeling happy where she was. It was so sunny and warm. Still, she felt a bit lonely and wanted to see Laurel again.

"Hi Laurel. Hi Daddy." She smiled at them.

"Get out of her," Slade growled at Sara. She looked back at him. He was aiming a gun at her. "Get out of there. Now!"

"Don't be an egoist, Slade. Be lucky I'm not haunting you right now," she hissed. "Do you think I want to be here right now? I don't want. But I can't just stand there, watching you all eating at each other's throat when the bastard that killed me is still out there ready to hurt everyone we know."

"Slade, don't shoot her," Oliver implored desperately. Not because of Sara but it was because of Felicity. If Slade shot Sara, he would also shoot Felicity…again. And there was no doubt that it could kill her this time.

Of course, when Oliver said this, Slade turned to aim the gun at him. "Stay out of this."

"You can't shoot him, Slade," Sara said, giving him a daring glare, "You can't shoot him as long as Felicity is here. If you shoot him, Felicity will never forgive you. And you know that, don't you? Or you just don't care?"

"What are you talking about?" Oliver asked, not fully aware of what Sara was referring to.

"Think about it, Ollie. Why does Slade want me out of Felicity's body? Because he thinks I'm hurting her. Why did she leave Merlyn Mansion at the night of the mission all upset? Because she saw him and Isabel having sex. And why do you think he showed up at my funeral? And why did he say he didn't want to shoot her?"

It took a minute for Oliver to finally figure it out. His eyes widened as soon he did. "Holy shit."

"Why don't you just shut up and leave!?" Slade snapped.

"Slade, shoot her!" Isabel shouted, "Just fucking shoot her. Kill those two fucking birds in one shot! Just kill them!"

"Shut up, Isabel!" he snapped back at her.

"Wow, I still can't believe you'd take orders from that venomous Ice Queen," Sara kept shaking her head in disappointment as she walked around and stopped in front of the gun that was once aiming at Oliver. She pressed her forehead to the barrel of the gun, "You can't kill Oliver, Slade. Felicity won't let you. You'd have to kill her first before that ever happens. Go ahead, shoot me. Pull that trigger. I did what I came here to do. Just remember that I'm not the one you'll be killing."

 _Relinquere_.

The lights in the court room go out again, making everyone gasp as the entire room was plunged into darkness. As soon as the lights were back on, Sara was gone and Slade still had the gun aimed at a sobbing Felicity. She was shaking terribly, probably from the pain or from the shock she was feeling right now. Fresh tears streaked down her face.

"If you kill him," she continued gasping and sobbing, "You'll have to kill me first…Please Slade, don't do this. Please."

"Slade…" Oliver said, "She needs a doctor. Now."

Slade looked over at the bullet hole on her shoulder, the blood already staining her dress from her shoulder to her chest. He had already done enough damage to her as it was. Felicity promised him that she was willing to die for Oliver. It took a lot for Slade to realize she wasn't kidding. She literally threw herself in front of the gun so the bullet wouldn't hit Oliver. It was like she was asking for death. Unfortunately for her, Slade wasn't willing to let her die. Especially the life of a man he hated for so long and he didn't find his life worth sacrificing for.

"Slade," Isabel continued snapping at him, "Shoot her! Do it, now!"

"…No," he growled before turning the gun at Isabel and shooting her.

The bullet struck Isabel in the chest and she fell back.

Felicity placed a hand to her mouth and gasped in horror. Oliver immediately grabbed her by the good shoulder and pulled her behind him to safety, afraid that Slade would pull the trigger on her next.

Things took a turn for the worst when Slade suddenly put the barrel of the gun to his lips. Felicity gasped and sobbed loudly. Luckily, Oliver acted quickly and grabbed Slade by the wrist, trying to pull the gun away from him.

"Slade, give me the gun," Oliver continued pulling at his wrist, "Give me the gun. Slade, come on. Don't do this to yourself."

"Slade, please, do as he says. Give him the fucking gun already!" Felicity shouted.

Slade did as Felicity said and gave Oliver the gun. He sat down, his elbows prompt on the table and his face buried in his shaky hands. He couldn't believe he actually shot Isabel. He also couldn't believe he almost shot himself. He no longer had self-control. It was the Mirakuru. It was making him impulsive, unreasonable and angry. He now knew that Oliver and Felicity had been right the entire time. They were right the whole time. It was the Mirakuru turning him insane. It was driving him crazy.

Felicity tried to approach Slade but Oliver kept her back. Slade wasn't stable right now. He looked like he was going to suffer through a meltdown. But she knew she couldn't leave him like this. "Slade?"

Slade looked at her tear-streaked face. Her eyes were bloodshot, lips red and face drained. He could tell she was losing a lot of blood because of the wound on her shoulder. It was his own fault that he shot her. Oliver Queen was offering up an apology and Slade immediately lashed out in anger and tried to shoot her but ended up shooting Felicity by accident instead. He couldn't bare looking at her without thinking that he almost killed her when he wanted to shoot Sara in the face. But it wasn't Sara. It was Felicity being possessed by Sara. There was no telling how it happened. All he knew was that if Sara didn't disappear, he would have shot Felicity again but in the head this time and there was no going back if he did. He would lose another person he cared about. Adeline. Shado. He didn't want to lose Felicity either. It was too much for him to bare.

"Take her to a hospital," he shuddered. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down from the anger and the adrenaline.

Oliver nodded and guided Felicity down the aisle by the arm. Everyone in the court began to mumble amongst each other of what just happened. Oliver obviously couldn't leave the court so he handed Felicity over to Diggle and told him to take care of her.

* * *

Slade pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh.

"You do know you're under arrest for murdering Isabel Rochev, for causing panic, for injuring Felicity Smoak and for the attempt of murder of Oliver Queen, right?" he heard Detective Lance say.

Slade nodded. "Yes. Give me a moment."

Slade immediately caught a strange scent as he took a deep breath. It smelled like burning gunpowder. And he can hear sizzling. _What the hell is that?_

The sizzling sound grew louder and the scent of gunpowder grew stronger as if it were getting closer. Frowning in suspicion, he looked under the table where he saw — "Move!" Slade immediately stood up and pushed Quentin back, nearly knocking him to the ground. That's when the explosions started.

Firecrackers popping and exploding violently under the table, nearly sending it into flames. The explosions followed up to the next table. Everyone started screaming. Then there was more explosions between the benches. People ran around in different directions to avoid the explosions. _Crack. Crack. Crack. Pop. Pop. Pop_. It was like the firecrackers were lined up and set in rows. And there were more firecrackers lined at the bottom of the walls that began to explode. Quentin immediately grabbed Laurel and hauled her away from the wall. The remaining guards were forced to open the doors to let the panicking crowd out of the court and they were all running like a stampede.

Oliver grabbed Thea and covered her with his body to shield her from the explosion. Diggle tried pulling Felicity through the crowd to get her to safety but one of the people knocked into Diggle and he accidentally let go of her. Unfortunately, people were pushing and Diggle couldn't get to Felicity. As for Felicity, she was knocked to the floor by the man that pushed between her and Diggle.

She could see the firecrackers lined up under the benches and also under black duct tape which made it obvious why no one noticed them. Someone definitely planned this to happen. They have the firecrackers covered in black duct tape so no one would notice.

The ones that were really close to Felicity were about to go off.

Slade saw this, ran to her, and hauled her up from the floor. He held her close and turned away to shield her from the explosions. The explosion caused to burn through the suit and skin. Slade nearly yelled out in pain the searing pain burning through his flesh. Whoever did this clearly didn't know who they were messing with. Slade didn't plan this part of assassinating Oliver. And of course, he didn't give Isabel permission to do something like this. Isabel knew better than to piss him off by disobeying orders. This was to cause panic, not murder. Someone childish planted this to cause havoc.

Slade looked around the court room for anyone suspicious. Everyone was too busy running and screaming.

Something (or someone) finally caught his eye. The girl he saw near the bathroom — when Felicity cut him off from the argument — with her headphones on. The girl with white streaks on her brunette hair. She stood there in the middle of the running crowd, immobile like a statue and staring at him blankly. Who the hell was she? She smirked at him before pulling up the hood of her jacket over her head and giving him a peace out sign. "See you around, douchelord," she said before walking away through the crowd.

"What just happened?" Felicity asked, her hands still clutching at Slade's shirt. He had arm protectively around her shoulders.

"I'll find out," he said, releasing her from his hold. It took a moment before Felicity finally let go of his shirt. It was like trying to detach a scared cat from the ceiling. "Stay here. Don't move."

He left her side and ran out of the court to catch up with the girl who possibly caused the explosions. She was a lot faster than Slade anticipated though as she already pushed her way out of the building. She looked like she could win first place in the Olympics. Slade watched her run through the green trimmed lawn, heading right towards a light blue Ford Cortina car. He watched her bang her fist repeatedly on the hood of the car as if giving Morse code before jumping right into the car through an open window. The Ford Cortina moved forward and disappeared into the streets.

Slade had a feeling it wasn't the last time he would be seeing that girl. She knew him somehow. The explosions were met for _him_. The firecrackers were made to get his attention. The question was, why?

"Slade Wilson!"

Slade recognized Isabel's angry voice and turned around to find Isabel standing just a few feet away, holding Felicity in a chokehold and pointing a gun at her head. _Aw shit_.

"Have you forgotten that the Mirakuru heals me, Slade!? Because I sure haven't!" she snapped at him as she jerked Felicity. Felicity let out a cry. Slade tried to approach them both but Isabel pulled the safety cap in warning. "One step closer, Slade, and I'll blow this bitch's brain off! I swear I will!"

"Isabel, stop!" Oliver yelled as he appeared along with Diggle, Quentin and Laurel. Quentin aimed his gun and Isabel.

"Put the gun down, Miss Rochev!" Detective Lance ordered.

"You really are the worst cop in the world!" Isabel snapped while slightly turning around, jerking Felicity along with her.

Slade could see the bullet hole on Isabel's chest healing. The blue blouse she was wearing was still stained with blood. He knew that shooting her wouldn't kill her, it would just make her angrier. And now Isabel was pissed off as shit. He cursed himself for being so impulsive as to shooting her just to shut her up. He wanted to move forward to try and get Felicity out of Isabel's grasp but since Isabel had Mirakuru in her veins, she could hear and feel him coming. One wrong move and Isabel would put a bullet right through Felicity's skull.

Isabel turned her head to snap at Slade again. "You see what you're making me do, Slade!? This is all your fault! If you had just went with the plan _you_ made, we wouldn't be in this mess right now! Now here I am, holding your fucking whore at gunpoint with everyone staring at us!"

Slade didn't notice until now. Everyone was staring in horror. But none of them moved to do anything. _What a bunch of wusses_.

"Isabel, please, let her go," Slade said calmly, "You've already made your point. Release Miss Smoak and we'll leave."

"Is that easy, huh? Just letting her go, leave and forget this ever happened? No! You backstabbing son of a bitch! We were supposed to do this together! Take down Oliver and the city together! It's what we both wanted! Now what!? You're changing your mind because of this blonde bitch!? Why!? I was the one who was there with you, helping out with your schemes! I was there by your side! I did everything you said! And for what!? So you can start screwing around and have sentimental feelings for a woman that's been helping the bastard that you hated most! You're _just_ like Robert! He used me and you're doing the same shit too!"

"You did everything for me, Isabel. And I thank you for that. But I don't think you understand. You never understood. I took you in because I knew you wanted the same thing. But you also took sentimental feelings towards someone you knew would never return the same feelings because he loved another woman. A woman who's no longer alive," Slade said this while looking at Felicity. He could see the tears forming in her eyes and small smile on her face. "You picked the wrong man to love, Isabel. You picked the man consumed by anger and grief. That was one of your mistakes. My biggest mistake was taking you by my side knowing that this would be the consequence. Now I'm giving you the chance to put the gun down, let Felicity go, leave Starling City and never come back. You can start your life again from then on."

"….You asshole. You fucking jackass! After all this time we've been working together, you're just going to tell me to put my gun down and walk away!?"

"He's not asking, Isabel," Oliver warned her, "He's insisting. Put the gun down before things get worse."

"Oh, I plan to make it worse, Queen," Isabel snapped and continued towards Slade, "You think you can just throw me away like garbage and expect me to be okay with it, Slade? No fucking way. You don't get to win today, Slade. You want this bitch so much? I'll give her to you but with a bloodied hole in her head. Her body lying at your feet. Blood wet against your skin. And you'll feel that same pain you felt five years ago when you lost your precious Shado…I'm going to kill her, Slade. And I'm making you watch…I will make you suffer for your betrayal."

The mention of Shado made Slade clench his jaw and his blood boiled. Mentioning her and then threatening Felicity was a combination for disaster waiting to happen.

"He said put the gun down, Isabel," Felicity said, her voice trembling but she did not look at all afraid, "Or there will be consequences."

"Shut up," Isabel hissed into her ear.

"But you need to _listen_ up," she said. Suddenly, Felicity used her free hand to grab the gun, twisting Isabel's wrist to have it away from her head and elbowed Isabel in the face. The sound of a bone cracking was heard. No one knew if it was Isabel's or Felicity's.

Isabel tried to aim the gun at Felicity again. Felicity still remembered the _wing chun_ technique Sara taught her at the Clock Tower. She took her of Isabel's wrist to keep the gun away and firmly punched Isabel in the gut. Isabel cried out in pain and bent forward, giving Felicity the opportunity to knee her beneath the jaw. She then let out her powerful scream, sending Isabel back.

Isabel fell on her behind and skidded back. Snarling in anger, she stood and charged at Felicity, only to be suddenly held in a chokehold by Slade. Panic overcame her when grabbed her by the head and shoulder. "Slade no, what are you doing!? Don't—!"

Slade twisted her head and let her body fall to the ground after hearing the crack of her neck. He had killed her. Even with Mirakuru in her veins, it would be difficult to heal if her brain was disconnected from her body because of the snap of the neck. Isabel Rochev was definitely dead.

* * *

After the entire chaos ended, ambulances and the SCPD were called. Isabel's body was taken away for autopsy. Oliver Queen was taken back into custody for safety reasons in order to avoid any more assassination attempts. Unfortunately, Felicity had to watch Detective Lance arrest Slade and take him away. She didn't want the police to take him away. She understood that what he did was wrong but he still saved her life. Well, she did fight Isabel while Slade did the rest of the work. Slade gave Felicity a reassuring smile, telling her that everything was going to be all right. Felicity wasn't sure if that were true anymore.

Felicity was then taken to the hospital to have the bullet removed. She was lucky the wound was superficial and didn't cause any severe injuries. She had it stitched and bandaged.

As for Isabel's body, the dieners thought it would be wiser to cremate her body since she had no one to claim her. She had no friends or family members and there was no doubt Slade would have decided to actually cremate her.

Felicity was having none of that though. Despite being spiteful, Isabel was still a woman. A human being. She didn't realize that until now. She didn't even realize it when Moira died. Now she understood. Moira may have been a very awful person, trying to hide her secrets and keeping a reputation but there were things she did for the sake of her children, to keep them well and safe, even if her attempts of doing so were wrong. She did many bad things with intentions that backfired drastically. The same thing went for Isabel. One of the mistakes Oliver made when shooting arrows and capturing bad guys was not putting himself in his shoes.

Oliver would look ridiculous wearing Isabel's high heels but it was metaphorically speaking. How would he feel if he loved someone that didn't love him back? How would he feel if he was just used to then be rejected? That's what Isabel felt. Used. Rejected. Unloved. And this happened thrice. Robert. Oliver. And then Slade. One of Slade's biggest mistakes was to underestimate a woman who's already had her heart broken before.

That shattered heart turned into a ticking time bomb that exploded into full rage mode. Isabel was angry because Slade didn't love her back after everything she did for him, only because he chose Felicity over her. Angry because she was rejected once more. Felicity understood very well that something like that is very difficult to take in. She understood what it felt like to have a broken heart.

Felicity paid for Isabel to have a proper burial. Isabel didn't deserve a proper burial but Felicity felt like it needed to be done. Isabel was still human. Even if she was a crazed Mirakuru superhuman, she was still human. Unsurprisingly, Felicity was the only one who showed up to watch Isabel's still body dressed in a black dress and lying in the white felt of the ebony coffin. It was only Felicity and with Rachel standing by her side and also Diggle. He was only there to keep an eye on Felicity. Diggle didn't like the idea of Felicity attending the burial of the person that tried to shoot her in the head. But she wasn't afraid.

"Who is she?" Rachel asked, looking up at Felicity with a puzzled look.

Felicity let out a quiet sigh. "Someone I'm glad you didn't get to meet, Rachel."

"She was bad, wasn't she?" she asked as glanced down at Isabel's body.

"Yes, she was," Felicity said honestly. She wasn't going to lie to Rachel. "But…she was just a woman. An angry and sad woman."

A woman who loved and wanted to be loved back. A woman that did not take rejection lightly. A woman who raged and hated. A woman who wanted to make people suffer for her suffering. Slade also wanted to make people suffer for his suffering. But was it really worth it? All of that hate, all of that anger and all of that sorrow led them here. Isabel in a coffin and Slade in jail.

What will happen to Slade now? Would he spend the rest of his life in jail for attempting against Oliver's life, for causing panic, for killing Isabel and for nearly killing _her_? Felicity's stomach churned at the thought of it.

"Rachel, I need you to promise me something," she said while looking down at the little girl, her hand still holding the small one. Rachel looked up at her, blinking as she waited for Felicity to response, "If you ever get really angry with something bad that could happen to you one day, don't take it out on anyone else, especially towards people that did nothing to you."

"Okay? Why?" Rachel was still six years old. She didn't understand why Felicity would say this to her.

"Because, it's not worth it," she said, "Not only will you hurt the people around you, you'll end up hurting yourself as well."

Rachel gave her a small smile and nodded in agreement before throwing the red rose she kept gripped in her free hand into the coffin. It landed on Isabel's lap.

After this, Isabel was buried and Diggle took Felicity home.

Sleep had become difficult for her. Felicity would just lay there on the bed next to a sleeping Rachel, looking up at the ceiling. It wasn't because of Hypnocil. She couldn't stop thinking of Oliver or of Slade. Oliver would have a new trial in three days. They would soon decide if he was innocent or guilty. Would Oliver be found guilty or innocent? Would Slade be imprisoned forever or be freed? She didn't want to think about it but she had to. It was the only thing keeping her from having more nightmares. She loved them both. Oliver as a broth but Slade as something much more. And there was no doubt he had the same feelings for her. She smiled at the thought. _Get your ass out of there, Slade or I'm going to kick it_.

* * *

 **This is not the end for Slade or Felicity. On the contrary, it's just getting started.**

 **I hope you guys like it. It took me a long time to write this. So I'm sorry if I kept you all waiting. The chapter was so long that I had to divide it into two parts.**

 **Review down below and tell me what you thought of this two parter.**


	30. Chapter 30: Burn

***pant pant* Finally, it's done. This chapter is done. Here you go, guys, another chapter to _Black Smoak_ just like I promised. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

* * *

"Slade Joseph Wilson?" one of the guards called out his name as they unlocked the barred door of his cell. Slade was sitting on the low bench with his head tilted back against the concrete wall with a bored expression. He nearly huffed at the mention of his middle name. It made him think of Joey, his younger son. And Grant, his oldest. He missed them both. But they probably forgot about him. They may not miss him as much as he missed them.

The guard opened up the cell door and stepped aside. "You're free to go."

Frowning, Slade sat up straight and looked at the guard puzzled. "Am I?"

"Yes, you're release has already been taken care of. You're free to go."

As much as it confused Slade, he was actually glad of leaving Iron Heights. This place was cold and unwelcoming. Even the other prisoners complained next door of the poor treatment. Slade didn't sleep the night he was placed in the cell. He couldn't stop thinking about Felicity, of how he shot her and how Isabel almost killed her. The guilt was eating him alive. All he wanted to do is hold Felicity, if he ever got out of Iron Heights. And by some stroke of luck, he was leaving the infamous prison. At least he wasn't in Arkham or Belle Reve. Now _that_ could have been worse.

"Any idea who paid for my release?" Slade asked the guard as he gathered his returned clothes. He couldn't wait to get out of the orange uniform. It was itchy and uncomfortable for him. He already knew why so many inmates complained. He needed a moment alone in the bathroom to get out the prison uniform and get dressed in the business suit he wore three days ago.

"Some kid," the guard said, "He said he spoke to your lawyer and was able to have him released."

"What kid?" Slade asked as he stepped out of the bathroom and adjusted his tie. The guard escorted Slade out of Iron Heights.

Outside, Slade found himself with an unexpected person. Now he knew what kid the guard mentioned. "You must be bloody joking," he grumbled.

 _Cisco_.

* * *

"Hey, look, I bought you lunch just in case you were hungry," Cisco said as he handed Slade a brown paper bag while driving his van, "Big Belly Burgers. They're really good. I hear the prison food there sucks."

"I'm not hungry right now but thank you," Slade sighed and put the bag down below his feet. "How did you manage to get me out of there."

"I talked to your lawyer for a while," Cisco explained, "He said it wasn't going to be easy getting you out of there since you actually killed someone. But with a bit of help of my hacking skills, I managed to make the impossible possible. In other words, I messed with the SCPD computer system and the system of Iron Heights in order to make it look like you killed in self-defence. Once the police saw it, they dropped the charges almost immediately. I could tell you the whole story but it would take forever."

Slade chuckled in amusement. "And yet I thought Felicity Smoak was the only hacker that would impress me."

"Do you want me to drop you off at her place? You know, giving her a surprise?" Cisco asked.

"No thank you," Slade sighed in deception. He couldn't find a way to face Felicity without reminding himself he almost killed her, "I don't think it's a good idea me showing up unexpected, especially after what happened. I think I even consider skipping the city for a while. I think it's best if she stays clear from me."

"Um, I don't think your good ideas are actually good. I, for one, think it's the worst idea you could ever come up with."

"As if you have any say in it. You weren't there to know what it's like."

"Nope. I wasn't. But still, Felicity is my friend and it would definitely hurt if you just skip out on her like that without at least saying something to her. It's not cool, man. Like at all. It's a very stupid and cowardly act and knowing you so far, you're not a coward. Unless I'm wrong."

"…I let a dangerous man escape from my hand because he threatened to kill your girlfriend, Cisco."

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend. I simply happen to have a crush on her. Second, if Colton Smoak is as dangerous as people say he is, then you did the right thing letting him go. But with Felicity, it's a whole different story."

"How would you know about Colton?"

"She told me a lot of things about him. Scary stuff. She showed me pictures and newspaper clippings. Pictures that are really messed. She keeps a scrapbook full of them."

"Does she?"

"Yeah. I seriously don't want to relieve it," he said, shaking his head and eyes popping out, "But in all seriousness, if Colton is _that_ dangerous, I don't think it's a good idea to skip Felicity. She needs you right now."

"She has Oliver Queen and John Diggle for that," he droned tiredly, "She doesn't need me."

"Are you sure about that?"

As a matter of fact, Slade wasn't sure. He didn't want to leave the city and abandon Felicity. But was feeling that he had no choice.

"…Listen," Cisco sighed, "Piece of advice, don't turn this whole thing into some romance Shakespearean drama. Nobody wants that shit. Don't go all _Twilight_ on her. She deserves better than that."

"What's _Twilight_?"

"I think it's better if you didn't know," Cisco nearly cringed when he said that. "All I'm saying, please don't give up on her. She needs you and so do I. We all do."

"Why would you need me?" Slade asked, "I once tried to kill you and your friend at S.T.A.R. Labs. You should be angry with me."

"Um, I'm not the Arrow," Cisco said a bit louder, his tone unhappy. "Okay, maybe I was a bit freaked out about the whole thing but I kind of realized you're kind of somewhat friendly and not deadly to be around so, yeah. Plus, you saved Kendra from death so I'm giving you pointers for that. Can we change the subject? This is getting awkward."

Slade nodded in agreement. "I would actually prefer that."

"I've made a few modifications to your suit. My computer is in the back."

"I would rather if you kept your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road, kid." Slade was already holding onto the door handle just in case. "You are not taking your hands off this steering wheel. And you are not taking your eyes off the road over a tablet."

"What?" Cisco shrugged his shoulder and gave Slade a look. "Oh, come on! I'm not a horrible driver."

Slade then pointed ahead dully. "Stop sign."

"Oh shit." Cisco stomped on the breaks in panic and his van screeched to a halt. Slade had to press his hand on the glove compartment to keep himself from being thrown over despite having the seatbelt on. _This kid is going to get us killed_ , Slade thought as he let out a sigh. He then chuckled and smirked at Cisco.

"You were saying?"

"Okay, maybe my driving could use a bit of work," Cisco muttered to himself. "So, where do you want me to take you? Home…or the airport?"

Slade could figure out by the sad tone in Cisco's voice that he didn't want him to leave. Cisco wanted him to stay. Slade still didn't understand why. He nearly killed the kid and his friend. He should be acting like Oliver. Paranoid. Angry. Not charismatic, humorous and energetic like Cisco was. Cisco was just a kid, like Oliver but younger and less arrogant and less whiny and more intelligent. But Slade still questioned why Cisco kept sticking around. It was like he was trying too hard to impress him. Even though his appearance reminded him of Wade, Cisco's personality reminded Slade of himself when he was younger, always trying too hard to make people happy. His mother was already happy with who was but his father and Wade were never satisfied with who he was and he tried very hard to impress them or make them happy. Cisco shouldn't try so hard. He had already impressed him enough.

"…Take me home, Cisco. Merlyn Mansion," Slade decided and Cisco looked at him with his eyes lighting up. "I'm only staying because you asked me to."

Cisco gave Slade a small smile before looking both ways and continued driving. He's a good kid. Weird. A pain in the ass. But a good kid.

* * *

After three days, Oliver Queen was found innocent from the lack of evidence and because the judge thought everyone in the court were completely nutbags. Oliver was released the following day after the second trial. Felicity was glad Oliver was released from jail and neither of them went to prison for what happened. Felicity was glad Oliver didn't receive the death penalty. She was still concerned about Slade. She had not heard anything from him since the disastrous event. He was still held into custody after murdering Isabel Rochev. Felicity didn't bother calling Iron Heights so she could talk to him. She knew that it wasn't a good idea while staying with Diggle and Lyla. They were keeping a sharp eye on her. She knew they meant well but it was completely unnecessary. Yes, Slade shot her. She understood that. But she was well aware that Slade did not shoot her on purpose. He was aiming for Oliver and she couldn't just let that happen. She stood in his way and accepted the shot without a second thought. It made Slade angry that she risked her own life to save the man he hated most. Of course, now she didn't know what Oliver would say or how he would treat her after finding out about her and Slade.

Felicity was at the Clock Tower…training with Diggle. It was a long time since she trained with Diggle and would like to get back in the game. Diggle agreed to help her train but he made her promise that they would take it slow and that she shouldn't go ahead of herself. Rachel was sitting in a corner, bobbing her head and kicking her legs as she listened to music while reading. Felicity and Diggle were training with the bamboo sticks, smacking and bashing the sticks together like bo-staffs or swords.

Felicity was trying very hard to get the hang of it. If she wanted to fill in the role of the Black Canary, she needed extensive training. Sara was never born as the Black Canary; she had to work hard for it at Nanda Parbat. Now Felicity would have to work for it by any means necessary even if would cause her pain.

"Okay, ow, that hurt," Felicity hissed while rubbing her throbbing hit.

"Told you it would hurt," Diggle chuckled while twirling the bamboo sticks.

"I knew it would hurt," she panted as she readied her weapons again. "Again?"

"Are you sure you want to do this? We've been doing this for half-an-hour and you look like you're about to crack," he said.

Felicity panted. Indeed, she was exhausted. It was only thirty minutes and her heart was already pounding against her chest. She had to pull her golden hair back in a ponytail to keep the strands from sticking annoyingly to her neck with her sweat. But she wasn't going to stop until she got it right.

"I think I can do a few more minutes," she assured him. She threw the first swing but Diggle quickly blocked it.

"Nice swing," he said, "At least you're learning to strike first before they strike you."

"Doesn't Oliver always shoot first before asking questions?" she asked.

"Oh, so that's where it's coming from. I thought it was Slade that taught you that?"

"Dig!" Felicity exclaimed, "Not funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Diggle snapped harshly, "I'm being serious with this!"

"Are we seriously gonna start with this right now?" Felicity swung the other bamboo stick to hit him on the side but Diggle blocked that strike as well.

"Yes. I'm worried about you, Felicity. After what happened at the court —."

"Diggle, you can't keep worrying about me," she said, "I'm telling you I'm fine. Really."

"Slade shot you in the shoulder. That's not fine."

"He didn't mean to shoot me. I told him that I was going to let him hurt Oliver. I kept my word and got in his way."

"He could have killed you, Felicity," Diggle span and struck Felicity in the gut. Felicity gasped, feeling the wind being knocked out of her.

"But he didn't…Oh god, that hurt," she growled before smacking the stick at Diggle's knee. To her surprise, she actually hit his knee. It was a weak hit, however. But still, she hit him.

"I just don't want you hurt, okay? What happened at the court was beyond messed up, especially with S—."

Felicity hushed him before he could say anything else. She looked through the corner of her eye to see Rachel still concentrated in her book ad with the earphones on. Aware that Rachel may or may not hear them, Felicity tugged Diggle to the other side of the Clock Tower to speak to him in private.

"I don't think it's a good idea to talk about Sara, especially with Rachel around," she said a bit worrisome.

"The girl can't even hear us. Why?" Diggle asked frowning at her.

"…I don't know. It's just that, there's something not right," she sighed. "I don't think Sara was there by coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

"…When I was possessed by Sara, I was having this eerie feeling inside me. I didn't like it," Felicity explained. "When I put Rachel to bed, I had that same feeling again. And then there's this, I found a melted candle under the bed and the palm of her hands were blistered. I took a good look at them while she was sleeping."

"Her hands were burned?" he asked in surprise.

"Yep. And I don't think that was an accident. I think she did that to herself on purpose," she said, "Diggle, I'm worried about her. There's something she's not telling me. First she attacks one of the boys at the orphanage and now she has burnt marks on her hands…I'm too scared to find out what's going on."

"Wait, please don't try to tell me that this kid you've known for a few months might be some kind of witch and that she might be responsible for what happened at the court."

"It's a bit crazy but maybe. Before Sara died, I noticed that she used to give Rachel strange looks. And I mean, very strange looks. I think Sara noticed something strange in Rachel and didn't want to tell me."

"I'm guessing whatever it is she saw, she really didn't want you to worry."

"But I am worry, Diggle. Rachel is _my_ kid now. _My_ kid. _My_ daughter. _My_ responsibility. If there's something wrong with her, I want to know. I don't want Rachel doing things that can easily get her killed, Dig. She's only six."

"Okay, okay. Calm down, girl. Listen, we'll see what we can do. The first thing to do about her is to find out her mother's name and find out where she came from. Right now, we need to get back to training."

"Okay."

"By the way, that was a crappy way of getting off topic," Diggle said. He already noticed that Felicity was also trying to drop the whole Slade subject. Diggle was always worried about Felicity. He was afraid Slade would try to hurt her again, even if not intentionally. He and Felicity returned to training, and he had beaten her for the tenth time in the row.

Now it was the time to take a break. Diggle helped Felicity off the mat and she craned her neck. She was going to have bruises for days. Ever since Oliver was out of prison, they neededed to get back to business. Crime was non-stop because Oliver wasn't there and Diggle couldn't fill in the green hood forever. They needed an update on the criminals roaming in Starling City.

"Okay, we have William Tockman, he escaped yet again from his prison..." Felicity groaned in frustration at the mention of William Tockman. Not this guy again.

"Does that guy ever give it a rest already?" Diggle asked with his arms crossed.

"Apparently not," Felicity said while gritting her teeth.

"What's his location?" Oliver entered the Clock Tower with hasty strides. Both Diggle and Felicity were both surprised how early he arrive and that he didn't call to notify that he was coming. That was new and weird.

"As far as we know, Tockman stole 67,000 dollars from Starling Trust Bank and now he plans to rob 100, 000 from Starling National Bank," Felicity informed him while typing away in her computer, "We don't really know when he'll strike. He just decided to cover up his tracks. He's getting good at this. I really need to update my skills before I get rusty."

"Anything else?" Oliver asked rather glumly.

"I just got a call from Caitlin back at Central City," she said, "Apparently, someone has been hacking into S.T.A.R. Labs' computer system and trying to extract and erase all of the files they've been working on for years. Someone is trying to sabotage S.T.A.R. Labs which is no surprise there since S.T.A.R. Labs has a lot of competitors like LexCorp, Project Cadmus and Oolong Island. Any of them could be the ones trying to sabotage S.T.A.R. Labs and not just the one in Central City. They're also trying to sabotage the ones in Seattle, Sand Diego, Metropolis, Gotha, Toronto and Pittsburgh. It's no surprise since these other companies are suffering bankruptcy after having failed experiments, especially LexCorp. His Exogene serums for the Everyman Project have been creating hazardous mutations and deaths that caused the investments to his company to drop drastically."

"Hey, isn't Exogene the thing —?"

"Yep," Felicity interrupted while looking sternly at a picture of the LexCorp building on the computer screen, "Definitely not gonna talk about it."

"Let's talk about something else then," Oliver immediately grabbed a chair and sat next to her, "Slade."

Felicity let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew this moment would come. And yet, she didn't care anymore what anyone thought. "Yes? What about Slade?" she asked while her eyes still glued to the computer.

"They let him out this morning," Oliver said with arms crossed. Felicity immediately whipped her head around to look at Oliver in surprise. "I supposed you didn't know anything about that."

Felicity shook her head in denial. "I didn't."

"And I supposed you weren't trying to contact him in some way or anything?" Oliver asked.

That's when Felicity's mind snapped. _What is he trying to insinuate?_

"Is there something you want to say to me, Oliver, just say it already," Felicity commanded sternly.

"Did you hack into the SCPD computer system to have the charges on him dropped?"

"What!? You think _I_ did that, Oliver!? I didn't!" Felicity snapped at him, "In fact, I didn't even know they let Slade out so you better not start accusing me of this, Oliver! Nor have I tried communicating with him out of respect for you!"

"If you had any respect for me, you wouldn't have slept with him," Oliver stood up and folded his arms, hoping to intimidate Felicity. Felicity stood up as well and placed her hand on her hips.

"And you slept with Isabel and Helena. I don't see the difference in that. They're both villains."

"It's not the same!"

Felicity's mouth flew open at his words. Of course _it's_ the same thing. Different person, same damn thing. Why would Oliver even say that? "You're unbelievable, Oliver. First you apologize to him and then you treat him like a threat again!"

"He shot you, Felicity!"

"He was aiming for you, Oliver! I did what I had to do. I already told him that if he tried hurting you, he would have to hurt me too. He already saw that I kept my word and didn't try to kill you again. You're alive —."

"Felicity, stop," Oliver said, putting hands on her shoulders and shaking her slightly and stopping her from talking. "…Slade is a dangerous man, Felicity. He killed my mom. He kidnapped my sister. He kidnapped you and Donna. He shot you. He tried to kill me. And he killed Isabel."

"…He killed Isabel because of me," Felicity reminded him softly, "Oliver, if he wanted to kill me, he would have done it by now."

Oliver kept speaking loudly at her. _Why is he shouting?_ "He's manipulating you, Felicity. I know him. More than anyone else —."

"I thought you once said that he was a great man before he was injected with Mirakuru."

"He was —."

"And he still is, Oliver." She then turned to Diggle. "Tell him. Tell him what I told you what happened. Please, Dig."

She was practically begging him to help her out. Diggle let out a sigh before bringing it up. "Colton attacked Felicity at her apartment a few nights before the trial and stabbed her in the stomach."

"I stabbed him in the neck," Felicity looked back at Oliver as she said this. "He didn't die. So I hit him with a frying pan and ran. Slade found me in a phone booth and took me back to his place. I spent three days in that house and Slade never made any attempts to hurt me. And that's how we…you know."

"I really don't want to know actually," Oliver said, "You should have told me this earlier, Felicity."

"You were busy, and I didn't want to worry you more than you were. I didn't want to scare you. You should be thankful for what Slade did for me. There's still good in him, Oliver. And you don't want to see it because you're still blinded by the past."

"He killed my mother, Felicity," Oliver said. Felicity was about to say something but immediately shut her mouth. "Now all I want to do is hunt down Tockman before he robs more banks and then we can get back to worrying about your father. We'll get him. But for now, I don't want you anywhere near Slade. He's dangerous, Felicity, keep that in mind. For now on, Diggle will be keeping track of you at all times. He'll know where you are and will report me where you've been. I don't want to hear about this anymore."

She watched Oliver head over to the salmon ladder. _Is he really going to simply drop the subject just like that?_ Does he really think that he can just tell me what to do and expect me to obey without hearing me out? Fuck no!

"…After you were taken back to police custody, Oliver, Isabel was taken to the morgue," she said to him. Oliver was already grabbing the metal bar but stopped when she said that. The topic of Isabel nearly killing her and getting killed by Slade was enough to make anyone squirm. "They were going to cremate her since no one would come to claim her. I didn't let them cremate her. Instead, I had her buried."

"She hated you, Felicity. And you hated her," he said, "He tried to kill you in front of everyone at court. She was helping Slade kill me. Why would you waste your time —?"

"I hated her. I hated her so much that I once wished she was dead. Then I saw her die and I suddenly took it all back. I didn't think Slade would actually kill her. She may have been spiteful. She may have been evil. But she was still human. Insufferable. But still human. Like you. Like me. Like Slade. She didn't deserve a proper burial but I gave her one anyway because she was still a human being. Slade is still human, Oliver."

"Do you really expect me to —?"

"Forgive him for killing your mother?" she finished for him as she approached him with her arms crossed over her chest. "He directed me with the same question but with Shado. No. I don't expect it. Nor do I expect for you two to stop hating each other. But I would prefer if the two of you talked like grown men and end this. I hated Isabel but I'm not letting my hate for her blind me. You shouldn't either."

Oliver placed his hands on his hips and stared down at her sternly. "Are you serious about this, Felicity?"

"Dead serious," she deadpanned with gritted teeth.

Oliver's frowning expression softened but was still giving her a sorrowful look. "I can't. I'm sorry. This isn't a choice you shouldn't make. I can't afford to see you getting hurt and I won't let it happen again."

Felicity unfolded her arms and turned away from him. "Dig, call Lyla. Tell her to have my bags ready."

Diggle did as she said and took his phone out of his pocket. "Okay? What for?"

She grabbed her blue coat from her rolling chair and briskly walks over to Rachel who had fallen asleep with her earphones on and book slumped on her lap. Felicity had been lucky Rachel wasn't listening to them bickering. There was no reason for her to listen to them argue. "I'm going home. Back to my apartment."

"What? Now?" Oliver asked in surprise. He didn't think Felicity would want to go back to her apartment, especially after what happened. If Colton attacked her at her apartment? What made her so sure that Colton wouldn't try to break into the apartment again? No one was sure, not even Felicity. Oliver knew that she was thinking with anger, not with rationality. She was not thinking straight.

"Yes, now." Felicity took the sleeping Rachel into her arms and draped the blue coat over her. The book the little girl had on her lap slipped and fell on the floor with a thud. Diggle immediately picked it up and gave it back Felicity. "Thank you, Dig. Oliver, if I can't get you two to get your own heads out of your asses, there's no reason for me to be here."

"You're quitting?"

"I'm not quitting," Felicity said without raising her voice, knowing how a loud sound could easily startle Rachel. "I'm simply going home to clear my head because none of us are in the right head at the moment. I want to take down my father. Slade wanted to kill you. You want to take down Slade. The two of you can't seem to grow up. Guess what? None of us are winning here except for my Dad. And I don't want him to win."

With that said, Felicity carefully climbed down the steps of the Clock Tower, carefully stepping on the wooden steps since she couldn't see below her while carrying a sleeping six-year-old child in her arms. Felicity could hear Oliver following her but she paid no heed. She knew he was trying to stop her but she didn't care.

"Felicity, please," he said, "Don't make the same mistakes I did."

Felicity stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to look at Oliver seriously. "People make mistakes, Oliver," she said, "And by the end of the day we learn from them. We all make bad choices here. But the big difference between your choices and mine. I always accepted them, good or bad. Why can't you do the same for me or for anyone else in that matter?"

When Oliver didn't answer her that question, she simply scoffed in irritation and walked away.

* * *

Felicity returned home after an exhaustion day. Home. Her home. She really missed her apartment. It had been awhile since she returned to her apartment. The police had already cleared the crime scene and there were no more police tapes blocking the entrance. And she was greeted by Rusty at the door. Rachel squealed with excitement upon seeing Rusty and Felicity immediately put her down after a bit of squirming. Rachel took Rusty in her arms and held him gently to her chest, listing to him purr happily.

The reason why Felicity hadn't returned to her apartment was because she was afraid of the same incident happening again, and with Rachel around it could be worse. Colton was a psychopath. If he entered the apartment again, he could literally hurt Rachel to hurt Felicity. She didn't want that to happen. But she already decided to return to her apartment. It was her own decision. She was already tired of people keeping an eye on her. They all had good intentions but not all good intentions were good. She already knew the consequences if she went back to her apartment. She just couldn't take it anymore.

She was already too tired of fighting with Oliver. The fight she had with him was too tedious at the same time infuriating. She didn't even answered his calls. He called more than four times. She decided to ignore them. Diggle called as well. But she ignored them as well. She wasn't in the mood for talking with them right now. Rachel was confused to what happened. She didn't know why they left the Clock Tower so quickly nor did she know why Felicity was angry.

"Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"No, Rachel, I'm not," Felicity sighed, "I'm mad at Oliver. But don't worry. I'm fine."

They ate Ramen noodles with sausage. Not the best thing for dinner but Felicity didn't have much in the refrigerator nor was she in the mood to cook. Rachel didn't seem to mind though. After dinner, Felicity gave Rachel a bath and put her to bed early. Rusty kept her guarded.

Felicity took a hot shower. She sighed of relief at the hot water raining on her head and snaking down her skin. It really did relieve the tension she was feeling today no thanks to Oliver. He really ticked her off. It was like he was being bipolar or something. She didn't blame his distrust towards Slade but she knew he was being unfair to her. Slade didn't mean to hurt her. He made it perfectly clear on that. Oliver was still being unfair. She accepted his decisions, even if his decisions were the wrong ones so she couldn't understand why he won't accept her decision. She understood that Oliver didn't want her making the same mistake he did. But she wasn't making a mistake. She knew what she was doing. She just hated that Oliver wasn't giving her a chance to prove that was not the bad guy. Colton Smoak was the bad guy. He was the cause of this ordeal and he needed to be stopped. But Felicity couldn't stop Colton even if she tried. She needed help. She needed both Oliver and Slade to help her, if only she could get them to stop eating each other like mad dogs.

After showering, Felicity dressed for bed. It was a cold night so she dressed in a black sweater and pajama pants before heading to her bedroom to rest.

"I'm not sure if you might welcome me to your home or despise me?" Felicity jumped at the familiar gruff voice and immediately switched the lights on to find Slade sitting on the edge of her bed. "How are you feeling?"

Eyes widening in shock, Felicity wondered if she was actually seeing Slade and not just a figment of her imagination. She had taken Hypnocil before showering. She even pinched herself to make sure she was still awake. Now that it was confirmed, she walked over to Slade and slapped him in the face.

"Where _were_ you?" she snapped at him quietly and closed the door behind her. She didn't want Rachel to get startled if she heard her snapping at Slade. "Oliver told me you were let out of jail earlier and he thought I hacked into the police computer system. Who let you out?"

"Cisco," he said while rubbing the side of the face she slapped. It didn't really hurt but expected a more welcoming approach from, not another slap in the face. This was the second time she slapped him.

"What's with you and Cisco?"

"Trust me, I wish I knew," Slade stood up and Felicity embraced him as soon as he did so. It caught him by surprise but he kissed her head all the same. "How are you?"

"Not good. Oliver is being an ass."

"He can be like that sometimes," he reminded her. He spent a lot of time with that kid to know what a pain in the ass he was. "Believe me, I know."

"He doesn't want you near me anymore," she informed him, "He blames you for almost killing me."

"First he apologizes and then despises me?"

"I know right? How fucking rude."

"Are you all right?" he asked with concern.

"No, not really," she confessed, "I sort of walked out on him. Rachel is sleeping in the next room. I was lucky she was still sleeping when Oliver and I were having the argument."

"Let me talk to him then."

Felicity looked at him in surprise. _He really wants to talk to Oliver? As in,_ _ **no killing**_ _type of talk?_ "Seriously?"

"Yes, unfortunately."

"I don't think talking is Oliver Queen's middle name, which by the way his middle name is _Jonas_. I didn't think you would want to talk to him."

"He and I have things to settle. All of them for your own sake."

"You shouldn't be doing it for my sake, Slade. You should be doing it for yourself."

"And who says that I can't do both?" he smirked. "You need to find your father, Felicity, and you can't do it if you have two hounds biting at each other like savages."

"For once, I'm actually glad to see you. I missed you," she hummed as she continued to embrace him.

"I didn't think I'd hear those words coming from you. You and I have been having our own obstacles."

"And we still do. That's doesn't mean we can't overcome them," she smiles at him sweetly, "But if you want to break through them, you have to do your part."

Slade smiles back. "I'll do my part if he does his."

"Sounds like a plan…Do you want something? Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate?"

"Felicity, I haven't been fully honest with you…I was planning on leaving Starling City," he told her.

Felicity's eyes widened when he said it to her. "When?"

"Today, after my release."

With that, Felicity slapped him hard in the face. She knew that it wouldn't hurt him. It made his head turn though which was satisfying enough. "You son of a bitch!" she snapped at him "How could you!? How could you do that to me?"

"I hurt you Felicity," he explained to her while pulling down the fabric of her sweater to see the wound on her shoulder stitched and bandaged, "I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought if I left, I wouldn't be doing you more harm —."

"Well, thank God that you didn't because you'd be doing the complete opposite, Slade," Felicity snapped and smacked his hand away, "I've been trying so hard to get you and Oliver to finally stop fighting while you were planning on leaving. It hurts, Slade. It really does! Sara is dead. My mother is dead. I'm trying to keep Donna from coming here. Oliver and I aren't talking right now. You planned on leaving." Slade could see the tears pricking in her eyes. She was indeed in pain. "And Rachel? I don't know what to do about her anymore. She has nowhere else to go and I can assure her safety. And my father wants to kill me. What's gonna happen if he comes here again? He's going to hurt Rachel, Slade, to hurt me. I can't handle this all by myself anymore. I really can't." Tears were now falling down her cheeks and was nearly gasping. Slade thought she was going to have a panic attack and immediately held her in his arms. "Look at me, I'm a mess." She sniffled and pressed her face to his chest. "Why are we so fucked up?"

"I don't know," he said as he held her tighter and placed his face on the base of her neck. "But don't worry. I'm not leaving Starling City. I'm staying here and I'm going to help you. I give you my word."

"We are horrible people. Messed up, I mean," she let out half a chuckle and half a laugh, "We need to make a list, a competition to see who has the most fucked up life."

"Let's see who wins then, love."

* * *

And that's what they did. Felicity made hot chocolate for them both and they sat on the bed together, her head against his shoulder and his arm draped around her. She had a notebook on her lap and two different coloured pens which earned her a puzzled from Slade when he saw both of their names written on it. FELICITY. SLADE.

"I have a notebook right here," she explained. "I wrote my name and yours. We write the points down below. Whoever gets the most wins. I also have different coloured pens. Blue or black?"

"Black," he said. He didn't think it would be a good idea. He thought it would be ridiculous but if it was what Felicity wanted, then he would play the game.

"Aww, I was hoping to use that one," she pouted but gave him the black pen either way.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked cautiously. He watched her take a sip of her hot chocolate from her mug before swallowing and putting the mug down on her nightstand.

She shook her head in response. "Not really. But I'm doing it anyways. Just to get it off my chest. Who should go first? You or me?"

"Lady's first," he insisted.

"Okay, um," she sighed and pursed her lips, "My dad tried to make me drink an entire bottle of vodka when I was just two years old. Your turn."

"My father once put of a cigarette butt on my skin while my mother wasn't home. I still have the scars to prove it." Slade pulled up the sleeve of his coat to show him the pale circles marked on the wrists of his forearm. Felicity nearly gasped at the sight. Slade was used as an ashtray by his father. Not cool, at all.

Instead of tracing her fingers of them, Felicity wrote down the points on the notebook. **1 point for Felicity. 2 points for Slade**.

"My father tried molesting me in the middle of the night. He wouldn't stop tickling my chest. And I was scared he was going to hurt me."

"Felicity, I don't know if this is the kind of thing you wish to talk about," he sighed. He knew that this conversation would get too personal. And he thought that it might do more damage than good.

"But I have to. Your turn, Slade. Unless you're a chicken," she gave him a small daring smirk. Slade smirked back.

"My brother once locked me in a closet for six hours straight after my father came home drunk," he continued, "He was looking for me but my brother kept me locked in so he wouldn't find me. He beat my brother instead and my mother yelled at him for locking me up without letting him explain what happen. My mother loved me more. She hated Wade because he wasn't her son. Your turn now, love."

Felicity continued to stare at him sorrowfully but decided to continue with the game. "It was my father's birthday. My mom made him cake which he didn't eat. He invited friends over to watch American football, including my uncle Michael. Michael wanted me to play with him in the sandbox. He was a rocking uncle." She laughed when she said this. "But then, I heard my mom screaming inside the house. My dad was hitting her again and she was in pain. Michael wouldn't let me go back inside the house to check on her. I'm guessing he didn't want me to get hurt also. Anyway, my father, my uncle and his friends left the house and I found my mom crying and bruised everywhere."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he apologized.

"There was nothing I could do, I was only four years old. As a four year old, I wouldn't have the capacity or strength to do anything…Your turn."

 **2 points Felicity. 2 points Slade**. They kept an even number now.

"My mother died of cancer," he said.

"My mother committed suicide by slitting her wrists," she said.

 **2 points for Felicity. 1 point for Slade**. Slade gently brushed a strand of Felicity's blonde hair behind her ear and stared at her sorrowfully. He already knew that her mother committed suicide because of the articles he had read. He didn't think Felicity would bring it up.

She sighed. "Your turn."

"After my mother died, my brother and I ran away from home. We lived in the streets, stealing cars and robbing stores. I was only eight years old."

Felicity placed her hand in his. "That's a lot for an eight-year-old."

Slade held the hand he had in his. "I've heard younger children that have done worse. Your turn."

"I moved in with Donna and Michael which I have to confess it wasn't at all bad. Donna became a better mother than my real mom ever did. That's why I always refer to her as my _mom_."

Slade chuckled "That's not at all bad. I wish I had relatives."

"Donna is the only one I have so far since Michael died of cancer. Looks like we're not so different after all. Your turn."

"I watched my brother stab an old man in an alley for his wallet." He sighed.

"Why was your brother so violent?" she asked in surprise.

"My brother has always been a mystery, Felicity," Slade said while brushing her hair back again, "I never knew what was going on in his head. He had very twisted ideas. Anyway, that old man turned out to be my wife's grandfather."

Felicity frowned at him at the mention the word. "Your wife?"

"Her name is Adeline Kane," he explained, "I used to call her _Addie_. We have two beautiful boys together. Joseph and Grant. I call him _Joe_. Adeline still thinks I'm dead. She remarried. And my youngest son Joseph doesn't know who I am. And even if he did, he wouldn't want to see me anyways for what I've become."

"You're not a monster, Slade," she reminded him, "People think you are. Even _I_ believed you were a monster. But you're not a monster. You're a man that's been hurt from the inside out."

Slade smiled at her softly. "Just like you. Your turn."

"…Let's see," Felicity pursed her lips, trying to put a lot of thought in it. "I had a boyfriend in college named Cooper Seldom. We both used to be a hacktivist group. He got arrested for hacking into the school's computer system."

"I'm so sorry for that," he apologized. He knew that Felicity had been trying to avoid that topic and he could tell that she didn't feel like having any other choice. "I'm guessing that's the reason why you don't wish to talk about him. You feel guilty or ashamed of what's happened to him."

"Trust me. I wish he _was_ in jail," she mumbled.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked frowning.

"Dad wanted you to hear it from me? You're hearing it from me. After Cooper got arrested, he was facing serious charges for attempts of eliminating the student loans. He was beaten a lot in jail and one of the inmates got a little bit frisky with him. I kept telling to myself that it should have been me in jail not him since the whole hacking was my idea."

"What happened then?"

"I went to visit him," she said, "He looked completely drained. Exhausted. No energy whatsoever. I tried to convince him that I would confess to the police of what I did but he refused and told me that he already confessed."

"What happened to him?" he asked carefully. He could tell that the topic was making her very emotional depressed.

"He killed himself," she said "Two people that I loved killed themselves. He hung himself in his cell before trial…At least, that's what I told everyone that asked me."

"He didn't hang himself, didn't he?"

"Nope…" she said quietly and took another sip of her hot chocolate. "I saw that the cop behind him was looking for his gun. It was missing. Turns out Cooper took the gun and shot himself in the head…What's worse? He shot himself right in front of me."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. He had already pictured the event. The cowardly Cooper shooting himself in the head, the glass being coated with blood and Felicity screaming in horror. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have insisted you into telling me this."

"I was already ready to crack." Tears filled her eyes and threatened to come out. She immediately wiped them away before she could let that happen. "You lost the love of your life. So did I. At least she didn't choose to die. Cooper did…Oliver told me that Mirakuru can cause effects of hallucinations. Do you see her sometimes?"

Slade didn't look at her when she asked that. He still didn't feel comfortable talking about Shado. "All the time. Especially right now."

"You see her in my room?" Her eyes widened with that question. He nodded his head. "Where exactly?" Slade pointed at the bay window of Felicity's bedroom. She looked at the direction he was pointing at. Felicity was staring directly at Shado. Felicity couldn't see anything but Slade felt like they were staring at each other. Felicity shook her head and looked back at Slade, tears not streaming down. "I know that you never want to hear this and I know that you will try to avoid it but, Slade, whatever you're seeing is not there."

Slade was already about to get up from the bed but Felicity immediately straddled on his lap and held his face in her hands.

"No, Slade. Look at me." Slade tried to avoid her eyes but he couldn't. His inky eye was already looking at blue eyes that were now reddish and bloodshot. "It's not Shado. What you're seeing is not Shado. What you're seeing is not real. It never was. The Shado you once knew moved on from this life. The Shado you're seeing now is not the same one. It's not her. You need to let her go. Or it will destroy whatever humanity you have left. Whatever good you have left. I'm willing to let everything go just so I can be happy again. I'm letting go of Cooper. My mom. Everything just to be happy again."

Slade shook his head. "I can never be happy again, Felicity. Look at me. Look at what I've become. I destroyed myself over hate. I loved a woman who is no longer alive. And what do I get over all this?"

"…Me."

"I don't deserve you."

"No," she said. "You deserve more. _We_ deserve more. We're just holding each other back with grief, anger and pain. And I don't want to live with that pain anymore. And neither do you." She took the notebook in her hands and wrote a 10 and 10 before drawing a line on them. "We're even now."

"What do we do with it now?" he asked.

"Hand me that pot. I also have a box of matches. Do you mind giving them to me?"

Slade gave her the metal pot she requested. He didn't question why she would keep it there and continued digging out the box of matches from the drawer and handed it over to her. She put the notebook in the pot and lit the match before throwing into the pot as well. The notebook was now being engulfed in golden flames, the white thin pages crippling and blackened as quick as a forest fire.

Felicity stood up from the bed and walked over to her closet. She bent down to dig through her belongings until she finally found what she was looking for. A scrapbook. The cover was dark green and made of leather. Slade heard from Cisco that she kept a scrapbook full of pictures and newspaper clippings.

She sat back down with the scrapbook on her lap. "I don't think the entire thing is going to fit in there so I think I'm throwing them in one by one."

She began to tear away newspaper clippings from the pages of the scrapbook and one by one, she threw them all into the burning pot. Articles of her father. Articles that have to do with her mother's death. Articles that have to do with Cooper. She threw them all in the pot.

She saved the best for last and she showed it to Slade. It was a picture of herself when she was in college. Slade almost didn't recognize her. Felicity had black hair in the photo and was wearing black heavy make-up and purple lipstick. "It was my Goth phase back then," she chuckled, "I dyed my hair blonde afterwards. Good thing I'm not her anymore." With that, she threw the picture into the burning pot and watched it burn.

"It must have been hard for you to do such things," Slade said.

"Do you know how many years I've been wanting to burn that crap? Many years and I never got the opportunity until now. You helped me," she smiled at him.

"I didn't help with anything, love," he chuckled. Felicity took the pot and put it back on the nightstand while it burned away all the bad memories and nightmares she had for more than 20 years. She stood up from the bed again, walked around it till she was now standing next to Slade, and stretched out her hand.

"You can help me with one thing," she said, "We, um, never got to finish that dance, back at the Merlyn Mansion. The party, I mean. I was wearing a white dress. You don't mind dancing with me in my pajamas, do you?"

"No," Slade took her hand in his and stood up from the bed. "I don't."

* * *

 ** _(High For This - The Weeknd)_**

 _You don't know_

He and Felicity stood in the middle of the room. Slade placed a hand on the dip of her waist while holding her hand shoulder-levelled. Felicity chuckled awkwardly as she placed her hand on his upper arm, her fingers feeling muscle through the fabric. Felicity took one step back and Slade took one step forward. They moved back and forth toward, not letting go one another.

 _What's in store._

Slade released her waist and gave Felicity a slow twirl, his eye admiring her movement. Felicity laughed. It was more of a giggle than a laugh. It was a long time since he actually enjoyed dancing with a woman. He enjoyed dancing with Adeline on the day of his wedding. He was certainly enjoying dancing with Felicity.

 _But you know what you're here for_

He turned her around, encompassing his arms around her, rocking her side to side and nuzzle his face into her neck, taking in her sweet scent.

 _Close your eyes_

Felicity shivered at his breath against her skin and let out a huge sigh. Slade turned her around again and held her close again, their faces close to each other.

 _Lay yourself beside me_

"You're not such a bad dancer, Miss Smoak," he chuckled.

 _Hold tight for this ride_

"I suck at it, Slade," she giggle, "I'm the worst dancer in the world."

 _We don't need no protection_

"I never said you were. I'm not saying you're good at it either." He was teasing her now which earned him a punch in the chest.

"You are a jackass."

They continued dancing. Felicity had always told herself to be the worst dancer in the world. The first time she danced was with Barry and she was afraid of stepping on his feet. She cursed herself for not going to the prom. She thought she would have learned how to dance back then. Now here she was, dancing with Slade and hoping not to stumble.

 _Come alone_

Felicity squealed in surprise when Slade twirled her around faster, her hair flying about as he did. He gently threw her back while still holding her hand pulled her back with another twirl. The way they danced now was friskier, as if they were dancing in order to save themselves. As if they were both being chased and they needed to get away as far away from whatever was chasing them. She leaned back and when she straightened up, Slade held her closer, embracing her in his arms, afraid that she would slip away. As if afraid to lose her. He already lost too many people he loved and those he thought he loved. His mother. Wade. Adeline. Joseph. Grant. Shado. He felt like Felicity was the one left keeping his sanity at bay even when many people thought (including himself) he had none.

 _We don't need attention_

He stared down at Felicity and gently traced his thumb over her lower lip. Without giving it a third thought, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

 _Open your hand_

 _Take a glass_

This caught Felicity by surprise, causing her to gasp internally and almost backed but Slade cupped her face as he continued kissing her gently. Her stomach turned into painful knots and her face burned at the feel of his lips on her own. By instinct and desire, she kissed him back. She shuddered between the kisses he gave her. He let out a shuddered breath as well after releasing her.

 _Don't be scared_

Felicity realized that this was the first time he had ever kissed a woman in a long time. The same went for her and it felt incredible. It burned like fire. It was a pleasant burn. And she didn't want it to stop. She wanted it to burn until she was entirely engulfed in flames.

 _I'm right here_

 _Even though you don't roll_

She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his but deeper this time. Slade made no move to stop her. Instead, he snaked one hand around her waist and entangle his fingers into her blonde locks. The kiss turned fierce and more passionate. It bruised Felicity's lips to a reddish colour and Slade slid his tongue between her lips to deepen the kiss. Slade let out guttural growl while Felicity whimpered.

 _Trust me girl_

 _You wanna be high for this_

Then they depart. It was giving them space for the moment. Felicity tossed her glasses on the floor followed by her sweater which she desperately pulled off over her head. She wasn't wearing a bra underneath since she was already dressed for bed. Slade proceeded to remove his coat, tie and unbuttoning his shirt. Once he had them removed, he took Felicity in his arms, pressing her bare torso against his and capturing her lips again.

 _Take it off_

He lifted her up and locked her legs around his waist, his hands caressing her thighs. To him, she didn't weigh a ton. He had lifted her easy without effort. He sat down on the edge of the bed and straddled her on his lap. His kisses turned tender again, giving Felicity enough time to breathe. She looked at him in the eye and smiled sweetly.

 _You want it off_

She brushed her fingers over his eyepatch and attempted to remove it but Slade immediately snatched her wrist.

 _'Cause I know what you're feeling_

 _It's okay girl_

"Don't do that, love," he said. "You'll be disgusted."

 _I feel it too_

 _Let it beat_

Felicity scoffed in return. "I don't care, Slade. All I care right now is you." With that, she removed his eyepatch, revealing a gaping hole that had scorch marks around it. Felicity did not get scared of it one bit. She smiled at him instead and places the eyepatch down on the bed next to them. "You're a great man, Slade. You always have been," she said this while running a hand through his dark hair.

 _Baby breathe_

"And you're a remarkable woman, Felicity," he said. He leaned forward to kiss her again, brushing her hair back from her shoulders with his thumb caressing the area of her collarbone where he shot her. He felt guilty doing that to her. He never meant to do that to her. He never wanted to hurt her again as long as he lived. Felicity saw good in him. She was the only one that saw good in him. And he didn't want to ruin it by pulling a stunt like that again. He wanted to make it up.

 _I swear I'm right here_

He kissed the area where he had wounded her and continued at her neck, giving the skin suctions and small bites. His mouth then trailed down to her chest where he gave small sucks and kisses to her breast while cupping the other one with his free hand. Felicity leaned her head back and let out another moan. His touches were gentle, almost feather-like and enough to make her tremble. It took more than a minute before Slade finally removed his lips from her chest. Felicity prompt herself on her knees and titled her head down to kiss him once more, her hands slowly sliding down from his shoulders to his chest and making him shudder.

 _We'll be good; I promise_

 _We'll be so good_

"Rachel is in the next room," she whispered in warning. "We can't make a sound."

 _Open your hand_

 _Take a glass_

Slade simply chuckled and kissed her once more before lying down on the bed and tugging his trousers and underwear. Felicity got rid of her pajamas pants as well and tossed them on the floor with the other clothing. She pushed back her hair and deep breaths before settling down on him again, his member again impaling her like previous nights ago. It didn't hurt her much this time which she was glad of.

 _Don't be scared_

 _I'm right here_

She placed her hands on Slade's chest and began to rock her hips back and forth slowly. Slade began to take deep breaths at the feel of her moving on top of him, grinding him and having complete control of her movements. Slade never liked being controlled. When with Isabel, he was always the one in control of her movements. He was always the one that dominated her. However, having Felicity on top of him and being control of her own movements was new to him and he was growing to like it.

 _Even though you don't roll_

He slowly snaked rough hand over soft thigh to her hip. His thumb gently traced her hipbone before moving his hand to caress her stomach. Felicity shivered at his touch and her breath hitched in sharp sighs when he cupped at her breast again until it firmed to his desire. He wanted her more than ever. He slid his hand back down to grasp her hip and tried to take a bit of control of her movements, making her move faster. He listened to her gasp and hiss at the change of pace and her nails nearly dug into his chest. Slade grunted and growled at the feel of her nails digging into his flesh and bucked his hips. Arching his back, he sat and held Felicity to him tightly. Felicity let out a restrained moan and held his upper arms for support while his hands still grasping her hips.

 _Trust me girl_

"I'm in love with you, Felicity Smoak," he whispered to her, looking at her straight in the eyes. Felicity only smiled in response and pressed her forehead to his, their noses nearly touching and exchanging breaths.

 _You wanna be high for this._

"And I'm in love with you, Slade Wilson."

Slade let out a deep chuckle before capturing her lips into his own again. They continued making love all night long, intertwined and silent — for the sake of not wanting to disturb Rachel who was sleeping across the hall with Rusty. They connected to each other body and soul. Felicity and Slade only focused on the reactions, the feeling of hands roaming each others' bodies, the warmth, the sound of their breathing and kissing. It was like they had never made love before. Slade had sex before with many women after getting off the island, including Isabel, but never made love. This was his first time in a long time he ever made love with Felicity and he hoped to keep it that way.

 _You wanna be high for this_

* * *

 **Finally, I got those two to actually kiss. Holy cow I was desperate in getting to this part. Lol. This part has been torturing me for months and I finally finished this one scene.**

 **If you guys never heard of the song** ** _High For This_** **by The Weeknd, I suggest you look it up on Youtube, the song is pretty cool. It was used for the movie trailer** ** _The Perfect Guy_** **. If you haven't heard of** ** _The Perfect Guy_** **, I suggest you check out the trailer as well. It inspired me to write part of the story.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading and thank you for those who wished me a happy birthday.**

 **I'll be posting new chapters soon.**

 **Review down below please and tell me what you think of this chapter. Thank you.**


	31. Chapter 31: For The Taking

**Here we go, guys. Another chapter to _Black Smoak_. *pant, pant* Thank you all for being so patient with me. **

**Colton is back in this new chapter and he's planning on something very risqué to trap Felicity in his grasp. There will be a flashback. A conversation between Slade and Oliver. And four more character introductions that will be a surprise and I know you guys might be excited about it. I really can't say who they are yet. One will appear in Colton's scene and the other will appear in Cisco's scene. You'll just have to read the chapter to find out but I know that some of you will love it when these particular characters make an appearance.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Danville in Central City, Missouri**

Thomas Harris was a father of three beautiful daughters, a devoted husband, a hard-working employee at a construction and friends with almost anyone. He was a very lanky man but still had a smile that showed every one he was a good man. Now he was just lying on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. His kids were dead as well, lying in their beds with blood coming out of their mouths and ears. The wife was also dead. She was in the same position as the kids, lying on the bed with blood coming out of her mouth and ears. Thomas was lying on his side with his arms extended.

Detective West made sure pictures were taken of the crime scene. He really wished Barry Allen was around. He would know what caused these people's deaths. There was no break-in. No struggle. No signs of shooting. No signs of being stabbed or any signs of strangling. It was as if they just died, just like that. Of course, what struck Detective West as strange is that only the husband was placed in a different position, unlike the way the children and mother were. Eddie Thawne continued taking pictures of the dead bodies. They were dead for three days. The neighbours were the ones that informed them after the bodies were beginning to stink through the neighbourhood.

"This is just beyond creepy," Eddie complimented as he took three more pictures.

"Whoever or whatever did this, it wanted to hurt Mr. Harris more than the others. I'm guessing the kids and the wife were killed first and Harris was left for last," Detective West said. "It seems that the killer wanted him to suffer."

"Are you sure someone killed the Harris family because they don't look murdered to me," Eddie said, "They look like they just died."

"I see head-forced trauma on Mr. Harris. No blood on the bedframe or the nightstand and look how strange the position of the body is in," Detective West continued saying, "It's in a shape. Just like a couple of bodies we found a few weeks ago. It's getting stranger and stranger every second. If you take a look, the body is positioned in the shape of a letter. Last time there was a Y. The other one was an I. And then one in Metropolis was an L. This one? This one is an F. But they're not the only ones. There are more positioned in different letters."

"What could the _F_ mean though?" Eddie asked, " _Fuck you_?"

"Not funny Thawne," Detective West shook his head.

Eddie stood upright and scratched the back of his head. "I really wish Barry was here. He'd know what might have done something like this. Whatever it was, it must have been very pissed off."

"What's strange is that Mr. Harris doesn't have any enemies. He's friends with everyone in the neighbourhood. He has a good marriage. He has great relationship with his kids. And has an honest job as a construction worker where he gets the job done right. What kind of person would hate Mr. Harris so much to do something like this?"

Detective West decided to take a look up in the attic to see if they could find anything that could help with the investigation. There were tons of cardboard boxes and junk stored in the attic with cobwebs everywhere. He searched through the boxes where he mostly found old toys, books, scrapbooks of family photos, notebooks full of school work…and a dead rat. _Gross_. It looked like Thomas Harris didn't clean his attic for a long while. Detective Lance then found a white box hidden in the corner of the attic behind a few more boxes.

He opened up the white box where he found two albums. And there was a picture between the albums. Detective West took the picture out to take a good look at it. It was black and white and very old. It was a picture of Thomas Harris in his younger days with a bunch of friends at a local pub. At least more than five men were in it. Detective West flipped the photo over. Harris' name was written on the back of picture as well as the other men the detective found awfully familiar. SAMUEL BRAWN. VINCENT O'CONNOR. Those were the other victims that died in mysterious circumstances. Vincent was a club owner while Samuel was a janitor. It was obvious why someone would want to kill a club owner but killing a janitor and a construction worker was a different story. Now Detective West knew that the deaths were connected somehow. The upper corner said LAS VEGAS, NEVADA. The three victims were all from Las Vegas, Nevada. Detective West went through all the names on the back of the picture: Thomas Harris, Vincent O' Connor, Samuel Brawn, Daniel Goodwin, Kaiman Wilson, Jeffrey Coleman, Blake Taylor, Francis Butler and…Colton Smoak.

* * *

 ** _18 years ago…._**

 _Thomas Harris was heading for the local pub to have a drink or two when he saw little Felicity walking down the sidewalk holding Donna Smoak's hand. It had only been a few years since her mother Evelyn committed suicide, and right in front of the child. He actually felt bad for Felicity. He didn't mean for things to get out of hand so quickly. He was drunk. Everyone was. He didn't even remember what happened until the next morning. And now seeing Felicity walking down the sidewalk with Donna and no mother, Thomas regretted everything. He thought there might be hope for him to fix it, to explain to Felicity happened to her mother that caused her to kill herself._

 _He immediately crossed the road and caught up with Donna._

 _"_ _Hey, Donna, wait!"_

 _Donna turned around and immediately hid Felicity behind her. "What do you want, Tom?"_

 _"_ _Look, I'm sorry about Evelyn. I didn't know she would do something like this," he apologized, "I really am sorry."_

 _"_ _Tell that to_ _ **her**_ _," Donna said, referring to Felicity. The little girl with black hair and blue eyes continued to stare at him in confusion. Felicity still had black hair back then. "Did Colton send you?" Donna asked, "Because if he did, you can tell him to go suck cock somewhere else."_

 _"_ _No, I swear. Colton didn't send me. I haven't seen him in months now. Do you think I can talk to Felicity for just five minutes? I promise I won't bother you again after this," he said._

 _"_ _...Two minutes and not a minute more," Donna hissed and looked down at Felicity, "Sweetheart, I'll be over here watching if you need me."_

 _"_ _Yes, Auntie Donna," Felicity said._

 _Thomas crouched down in front the small girl and was about to put his hand on her shoulder when she took a step back. Felicity obviously didn't want him touching her. So he'd just cut to the chase._

 _"_ _Listen, I really am sorry about your mother," he said._

 _"_ _Mommy is dead," she said meekly with sadness in her voice._

 _"_ _Yeah, I know. I really am sorry about it," Thomas said. "And that's why I need to tell you something."_

 _"_ _What?" she asked._

 _"_ _Felicity —." He was about to say it when he suddenly spotted Colton at the far side of the street behind Donna, smoking a cigar and glaring at Thomas._

 _"_ _Is everything okay?" Felicity asked._

 _Thomas nearly gulped but he didn't want Felicity (or Donna) to turn around. He didn't want her to see him. He then looked back at Felicity and said: "Be very brave."_

 _After that, he left, leaving a very confused Felicity and Donna. He walked the opposite way, trying to get away from Colton as much as possible. He was the real reason why Evelyn was dead. He didn't want to socialize with him anymore. Thomas simply wanted to forget and move on with his life._

 _Unfortunately, Thomas ran into Colton with no idea how got to the other side of the neighbourhood without being seen by Felicity or Donna. Colton immediately grabbed Thomas by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up in the air._

 _"_ _What did you tell her!?" Colton snarled._

 _"_ _I didn't say anything about what we did to Evelyn!" Thomas cried out. "I promise!"_

 _"_ _I'm not going back to jail, Tom. You say anything about Evelyn to my daughter or to anyone else, you're going to regret it," Colton threatened before putting him down and briskly stomping away._

 _To Thomas's misfortunate, he did regret it 24 years later. For so many years, the guilt was eating him alive. He couldn't deal with it anymore. And did something he thought was right. The very thing that killed him, his wife and three daughters._

* * *

 **Now…**

Felicity and Slade laid there on the bed, entangled together with her head resting on Slade's chest and her hand on his abdomen. Slade continued caressing her soft back and they both sighed contently. It was already morning. Eight in the morning to be exact. They made love for more than four hours last night. Felicity already felt sore but happy. They were both happy. Slade had kissed her. And it was wonderful.

"How do you feel?" he asked. It wasn't the first time he asked her that.

She sighed. "Wonderful. That was the best night I ever had."

"Was the first night that bad?" he asked with a chuckle. Felicity chuckled back.

"No, it was great. Like I said, I was just rusty," she said.

"Well, love, you did an excellent job for your second time."

Felicity looked up at him with a smiled and he leaned down to kiss her lips again. Oh how Slade longed to kiss her. They were warm and soft. He didn't want to let go of them. He continued kissing her until he was finally ready to release her. Felicity smiled at him in contentment before sitting from her bed and brushing her blonde hair back with her fingers.

"I'm going to make breakfast," she said. She swung her legs out and stood up from the bed, "You can take a shower here if you like. The bathroom is in the hallway. Do you want coffee?"

"I would like that. Thank you. But first..." Slade took Felicity by the wrist and tugged her back down into bed. She protested when Slade held her down to the bed.

"Slade, I have to go and make breakfast. If Rachel is still asleep, she's going to wake up any minute now," she reminded him while pressing a hand to his chest to push him off. He didn't budge. Felicity made note to herself that Slade was a lot stronger than her.

Slade chuckled and kissed her again. "You can worry about her later. Now just relax and trust me."

 _Haha, trusting the man on Mirakuru_ , Felicity thought but did as Slade said once he positioned her to lie on her side. Felicity didn't know what the madman was up to but she was putting all of her trust in him. She felt him scoot closer to her, his hard chest pressing against her upper back and one hand holding her hip firmly and his arm wrapped around her chest. She didn't know what Slade was doing until she felt him penetrate her. She groaned. Slade released her hip and brushed her hair back from her neck to kiss her flesh as he continued to thrust into her softly.

She should have known that Slade wasn't done with her yet. Since he had Mirakuru in his veins, it gave him more stamina which meant he would recover from sex faster. They would have to work on that. Felicity would have to remind him not to screw her every second he recovers. He would end up exhausting her. She was going to allow him have this victory though. She relaxed as Slade continued to thrust into her. His thrusts were slow and yet intense. Felicity turned her head over her shoulder to kiss him and moaned when he cupped at her breasts. _Here we go again_ , she thought.

* * *

Rachel was having nightmares again. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, whimpering and growling in her sleep while Rusty simply sat on the nightstand, staring at her unblinkingly.

Rachel kept having nightmares of a fire. It kept eating her young flesh away. It burned terribly. She also saw a horrifying monster, a red monster with large horns and four yellow eyes. _No_ , she thought. _Blans Oiad Loagaeth Babalon_. _Blans Oiad Loagaeth Babalon_. _Blans Oiad Loagaeth Babalon_. As soon as that monster let out a dreadful roar, she woke up and sat up from her bed. She took deep breaths, her hand clutching her small pounding chest.

She looked over at Rusty who was still on the nightstand, and immediately took him in her arms to embrace him. "It was just a nightmare," she whispered while petting his head. "It's not real."

Rachel put Rusty down and got out of bed. She wasn't going to let a little nightmare get in her way. _Just keep walking, just walking_. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She had to use a stool to reach the sink. She had seen a lot of girls her age a lot taller than her. She always wondered why she was six years old and still had the height of a four-year-old. She would never understand anatomy. She barely even knew the word _anatomy_. Once she finished brushing her teeth, she stepped down from the stool and skipped over to the kitchen to find Felicity already making waffles for breakfast. Rachel liked waffles. Of course, Felicity was not the only person she found in the kitchen. She was surprised to find the man with the eye-patch in the kitchen as well, sitting at the table and drinking coffee.

He looked over at Rachel and smiled at her. She smiled back meekly. Rachel was never used to strangers. She already saw the man with the eye-patch a couple of times. She liked him but didn't know much about him. She couldn't even remember his name. The man with the eye-patch looked over at Felicity and called out to her:

"It seems that she has woken up," he said before taking another sip of his coffee.

"What? Oh, hey Rachel," Felicity dropped what she was doing and came over to give Rachel a kiss on the head. "You woke up a bit late this morning. Did you sleep okay last night?" Felicity was giving her a worried look when she said that. Rachel nodded in agreement even though it was all a lie. There were many things that Rachel lied about to Felicity. Many things, like how her mother died. But she didn't want to think about that. Right now, she wanted to spend a nice morning with her foster mom and the…pirate man.

"Okay, I'm making waffles. Let's just hope I don't burn it this time," she said as she returned to the stove, "You remember Slade, right?"

"I didn't remember his name," Rachel said meekly.

"Slade Wilson," the pirate man introduced himself to her again.

Rachel would have to have to remember his name more often. She had a feeling she would be seeing more of _Slade Wilson_ from now on. She sat down at the other side of the table and watched Felicity struggle with the waffles. She nearly burned her hand with the pan.

"Maybe you should let me do that," Slade suggested. Rachel could sense concern from him. Genuine concern. Not a fake one.

"Yeah, maybe you should," Felicity agreed while backing away from the stove. Slade got up from his seat and took her place in the cooking. Felicity fed Rusty before sitting down next to Rachel.

The little girl was watching Felicity examine the burnt mark her hand. It wasn't as bad as it looked. But it must be hurting for her.

"It's okay, Rachel, it's not that bad," Felicity assured her and kissed her on the head again.

"They don't look half bad, Felicity," Slade said as he brought in the waffles in a long with a bottle of maple syrup.

"Yeah? Well, I bet they taste horrible if _I_ made then," she kept criticizing herself. Slade chuckled and kissed her.

Rachel smiled at the two. They were acting like a married couple even though they weren't really married. For some reason, Rachel sensed that they were both enemies. They _were_. Now they were sitting together, laughing happily, kissing and eating breakfast. Like a happy married couple. And then there was Rachel, the girl who was like a daughter to Felicity. She had a good feeling about the two. She wondered if they would marry. And wondered if Slade would become her foster father if they do.

She smiled to herself at the thought of having a family, a normal one. A father. A mother. A _cat_. And perhaps a little brother in the future. Rachel had always thought of going to school as well and making friends. And perhaps find love. But those were just thoughts and ideas in her head. Her real mother was dead. Her father was terrible. She was now rejected by the orphanage after biting the boy. She didn't mean to hurt him. He started it first. Now Rachel knew how much that incident reminded her that she couldn't be happy. The police still believed that she was the cause of her mother's death. They were still investigating her. She would never have friends. She would never go to school. And there was a huge possibility that she would never have a new mother. If the police thought that Rachel caused her mother's death, they would take her away from Felicity and sent to who-knows-where but she knew it would be somewhere far and she would never see Felicity again. She was never going to have a family. She was never going to be happy. Rachel kept reminding herself.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Felicity asked with concern. Rachel hadn't noticed that her eyes were tearing up until Felicity brought her out of her thoughts.

"Are you all right?" Slade asked with concern as well.

Without a second thought, Rachel proceeded to throw herself onto Felicity and sob.

Felicity was shocked by this and looked at Slade who was also surprised as well, but held Rachel to her either way, hushing her and trying to calm her down. "It's okay. Whatever it is, I'm right here. We _both_ are."

* * *

 **Gotham City, New Jersey…**

"So, what is it that you want from me, Mr. Smoak?" Roman Sionis, a gang leader and also a crime lord of Gotham. It took a while for Colton to arrange a meeting with him. Roman Sionis wouldn't meet with just anyone. So he got lucky when Colton was invited to have a drink with Mr. Sionis at one of Gotham City's most favourite nightclubs. They both sat a booth, drinking whiskey and watching topless girls dancing seductively on the stage. "Money? Drugs? Guns? _Women_?"

"I want my daughter, Mr. Sionis," Colton said simple as that, "And I am in desperate need of your resources. I want my daughter back but there's no way she's letting me near her."

"Family issues aren't my problem, Mr. Smoak," Sionis said sincerely with his gloved hands clapped together, "If you're planning on killing your daughter, that's on you. It's not something I have control of. Unless you did something you don't want your daughter telling to the police."

"Oh, the many things I did for love, Mr. Sionis," Colton said in a thoughtful matter. "I had to kill some of my friends to keep their mouths shut, including my best friend Tom and his family. I almost feel bad for Tom. He was a great guy. He really felt bad for what we did to my wife."

"So, this is a mother thing? You're trying to keep your daughter from finding out what you did to your mother? You kill all your friends to keep them from telling the truth. What if some them chose not to tell the truth?" he asked.

"They still wouldn't keep their gobs shut if they wanted to," he hissed, "That's why I can't let them live. And neither should my daughter."

"So, if your daughter finds out, you plan to kill her," Mr. Sionis put a lot of thought to it and chuckled, "One of my guesses is that you don't really plan on killing your daughter. You have other plans for her."

Colton nodded in agreement. "Indeed. But I can't get near her." He said this with disappointment in his voice. "She's being protected by that son of a bitch of Deathstroke and that bastard of Arrow in Starling."

"Deathstroke? Huh," Mr. Sionis said. There was a moment of silent but the man Colton was negotiating with cracked up laughing. "Now you're talking. I've actually been looking forward meeting up with Deathstroke again. That son of a bitch owes me forty bodyguards and 50 grand. So I'm guessing he's fucking your daughter and it makes you very angry it's not _you_ fucking her."

"Hmm. It's like you can see me right through, sir," Colton chuckled in return.

"Give me a picture of your girl. Let me see what I'm dealing with." Colton did as Mr. Sionis said and placed a picture of his daughter Felicity on the table. He managed to take a picture of Felicity while she wasn't looking. She didn't know that Colton was still stalking her and taking pictures of her. Mr. Sionis grinned at the picture of the blonde ponytailed girl with glasses and let out a low whistle. "Not bad. Not so unattractive. I'd ditch the glasses if I were her. It makes her look less appealing."

"I actually think it looks adorable on her," Colton complimented before taking another sip of his drink. He looked over at the dancing girls on stage. One was blonde. He would have his fun with that one later and pretend she was Felicity.

"You're a sick man, Mr. Smoak," Mr. Sionis chuckled, "I like you. You have balls trying to get a girl who's your own flesh and blood, and already taken."

"Felicity has always been mine, not Deathstroke. And when I have her, I'm going to remind her that," Colton hissed. He didn't like the idea of that brute Deathstroke laying his hands on his daughter. Felicity was his, or that's what he thought. Colton was very territorial. He would often lose interest of his victims once they reached a certain age but to him, Felicity was special. She was special to him. To him, she was ten times better than her mother plus ten times smarter than Donna.

"Tell me, are there any weakness _your_ Felicity has?" Mr. Sionis asked. "Friends? Family? Deathstroke? The Arrow? Anything?"

"Rachel," Colton brought up.

"And who's Rachel?" Mr. Sionis asked.

"You see, my daughter was wasting her time working as a substitute foster mom to take care of this little kid that's being investigated for murdering her own mother right here in Gotham City. Felicity is very fond of her. She even sees that little brat like her own daughter." Colton saw it as a waste of time and money for Felicity to dedicate herself to a parentless killer. If it were Colton, he would have beaten the kid with a bat until her head was shattered. He would be doing everyone a favour by getting rid of that brat of a child.

Colton then handed Mr. Sionis a picture of the girl Rachel. "I see…" Mr. Sionis took in on the little girl's strange appearance. She looked like a completely normal child except for one thing. In the picture, her eyes were abnormally black. Reading the profile Colton gave, her eyes were supposed to be blue. Here in the photos, her eyes were black. And they weren't black-and-white photos. They were coloured photos and yet the child's eyes were black in the pictures which were a bit strange, even for the crime lord himself. It didn't matter, as long as Colton gave something to him in return.

Colton continued on. "The point is that my daughter would do anything for that little bitch, even if it means surrendering to me. If I have Rachel with me, Felicity would be crawling to me begging to let her go."

"How old is the kid?"

"Six years old. A child. Felicity is devoted to her. If I get Rachel, I get Felicity," Colton said with a confident smirk. As much as he didn't like that little kid, he often found her attractive. She had an adorable little face that you would either love or feel pity for. In Colton's case, it was neither. He only wanted Felicity, and that Rachel girl was his ticket to his prize. And he could probably have his fun with the kid while he was at it.

"And why exactly would you need me for?" Mr. Sionis asked.

"You have a heavy influence with the law, Mr. Sionis. I know you can convince the judges and the police to do anything you ask them to. You were arrested more than fifty times for drug trade and yet you managed to pay the judge a large amount of money to turn your sentence around."

"You might not notice but I'm dowsing off right now," Mr. Sionis droned in boredom. "What does my influence have to do with Felicity and the kid?"

"I need you to help me take away the custody my daughter has over that brat of hers," he got to the point quite quickly, "Have her ripped from my daughter's arms by Child's Services and give her directly to me. You have all the resources I need to get closer to my daughter."

"And what will I get in return?" the crime lord asked after sipping his own drink.

"My services as one of your guards."

Mr. Sionis burst into a fit of laughter, his cackle being heard over the loud music. Colton simply frowned, not finding it at all funny. Mr. Sionis then stopped laughing. "Huh, you're being serious, I'm guessing. I do need extra muscle in this joint and you have abilities that would serve me of great use. You got yourself a deal. I'll help you in any way I can and you keep your word."

"Thank you, Mr. Sionis."

"Mr. Smoak, here, they call me Black Mask. And word of advice, I think you should deliver the kid to me first to keep the suspicions from being raised. Then I'll hand her over to you afterwards."

Colton nodded in agreement before they both sealed the deal by clanking their glasses of whiskey together.

* * *

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City**

"Okay, kid, for the thousandth time, I am not making you a taser bo-staff. What the frak?" Cisco was working on the design for Slade's suit when he received an anonymous phone call from a kid. A ten-year-old kid with an obnoxious attitude. The kid kept demanding him a bo-staff with a taser. However, when Cisco asked the kid questions he refused to answer, he denied his request. Whoever the kid was, he did not seem pleased with the response and began arguing with Cisco. Cisco tried hanging up on him but he would still be on the line.

" _My friend says that you are the best engineer at S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City. You do not sound as intelligent as I thought. And you seem a bit young to be an engineer. But if my friend claims you are sufficient for the job, I'm willing to pay a lot if you do this favour_."

"How did you even get this number anyways?" Cisco asked in disbelief.

" _I have my ways, ones that do not matter at the moment_."

"Actually, it does matter. I don't make weapons for anonymous kids," Cisco continued saying as he was unwrapping a cherry lollipop. He kept pressing the button on the receiver to hang up but the kid was still on the phone ranting.

"Wow, and then you say _I'm_ difficult." Cisco immediately turned around after recognizing the voice behind him. A man a few years older than Cisco stood at the entrance. He had jet black hair and bright blue eyes and was wearing a dark grey shirt. He chuckled at Cisco's surprised expression, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. "Miss me, Ramon?"

"Holy shit! Dick fucking Grayson!" Cisco exclaimed as he threw his arms around his friend to embrace him. Dick embraced him in return and patted him on the back. "What the hell, man!?"

"You know the way you said my name was so wrong," Dick chuckled. Cisco instantly let go of him.

"Right, sorry about that," he apologized, "I'm just so happy to see you, bruh. It's been a long time."

"Yeah, I long time," Dick nodded in agreement. He looked around the Lab impressed. "Wow, a lot of things changed the last time I came here."

"Well, the explosions from the particle accelerator caused a lot of damages to the Labs so we had it renovated," Cisco explained. He really wanted to forget that day but one thing he knew that Dick would be a dick bringing it. "It's still getting repaired but it's doing good so far."

"What about him?" Dick pointed at the medical bay where a brown-haired man laid asleep and connected to a monitor that kept track of his heart rate. His heart was going a bit fast than normal.

"Um, that's Barry Allen," Cisco said, "He's been in a coma for a while. He woke up a while ago. He works at the CCPD."

"How did he get in a coma?" Dick asked with frown.

"Struck by lightning," Cisco said bluntly. "The particular accelerator caused a mayor effect around the atmosphere and created a very dangerous shock-wave followed by a lightning storm that, as you can see, it struck our friend right there."

"And he's in a coma again?" Dick asked with his eyebrow arched. "How did that even happen?"

"He got hit in the head a few times by a guy made of metal, but he's fine, don't worry about him. He'll wake up soon. No need to worry. Of course, he's going to have a concussion once he wakes up."

"I heard that on the news," Dick folded his arms over his chest and looked over at Cisco. "You know that was dangerous right? People got hurt, even killed. _You_ could have gotten killed."

"Yeah, I know," Cisco sighed. Dick was not the first person to tell him this. The reporters. The CCPD police. Hell, even the president of the U.S. said so. _Who else? Queen Elizabeth?_

Dick also offered his condolences about Ronnie Raymond, Caitlin's boyfriend, who was also struck by the particle accelerator. Caitlin was the one who was more affected by Ronnie's death. They were going to get married. The particle accelerator was meant to power all of Central City with clean energy, not cause seventeen deaths and countless injuries. A lot of people were blaming S.T.A.R. Labs for it. Even Cisco's parents were blaming him for the destruction caused by the machine. They even tried to make him quit his job which Cisco refused.

"So, how is everything going in Blüdhaven…or Gotham? Wherever you live…Met any nice girls along the way?" he asked as they both walked around the lab. "What about that girl you once mentioned? You said she had red hair and glasses."

"You're talking about Barbara, right?" Dick asked.

"Exactly, Barbara. I almost forgot her name. I'm not good with names, man. Even if you tell me twice, I'd still suck at remembering names." It only took a name for Cisco to remember Barbara. _The_ Barbara. The Barbara Dick would talk about non-stop on the phone or on Facebook with Cisco. Dick always told Cisco how hot and awesome she was. It was a bit annoying for Cisco but it should how in love Dick was with Barbara.

" _I knew you weren't **that** smart_." Cisco jumped at the voice of the kid on the phone. He almost forgot that the kid was still there.

"Get off the phone!" Cisco snapped at the receiver.

"Who are you talking to?" Dick asked, frowning.

"Some kid that won't stop bugging me about a taser bo-staff," Cisco said, "For some reason, he got the Labs' phone number and won't give me a name nor will he hang up the phone. And I've tried three times already."

Dick stared at Cisco with narrowed eyes for a second before asking him to hand over the phone. Cisco didn't ask why but gave him the phone either way. Dick put the phone to his ear. "Damian, what did I say about doing something without permission?"

" _Um, hello, Grayson, I was not aware of your presence there_ ," the kid said. He sounded a bit concerned. That was the sound of someone getting busted.

"Hang up the phone before I tell Bats," Dick threatened. The kid stopped talking and there was a loud beep. He hung up. "Sorry about that Cisco."

"So you know him?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," Dick sighed.

"And what do you mean by Bats? You mean the dude running around Gotham in Dracula's costume?" Cisco asked in surprise, "You still work for that guy?"

"I help from time to time but you know, I'm still my own guy," Dick said proudly.

Cisco already knew about Batman. He didn't know his true identity but he knew about Batman, the Dark Knight that protects Gotham City. He knew about Dick working for the Dark Knight though. In the past, Dick went by a name Cisco completely forgot but now goes by the name Nightwing after he left the Dark Knight's side. Dick now takes care of Blüdhaven which is near Starling City. He was doing a good job so far, at least from Cisco's perspective. He didn't hear from Dick for months.

"So, what are you doing here?" Cisco asked. It's not like he wasn't happy to see Dick in Central City. He was beyond happy. Dick was like a brother to him. But he still wondered what he was doing in Central City.

"Well, some of my equipment is messed up and I hoped you can help fix them for me." Dick said.

"Sure. Bring them in and I'll look them up."

"I already have them here." Dick walked back to the entrance and brought in a duffle bag which looked heavy in Dick's grip. Cisco was the one who helped him with the equipment, including the Batarangs, the Wing Dings, tear gas capsules and Dick's favourite Eskrima sticks which Cisco made them out of shatterproof polymer. Cisco nearly had a heart attack at the sight of the Batarangs and Wing Dings nearly crushed like a can with the wires standing out like nose hairs and parts of them scorched. "Dude, what did you do? Roast marshmallows with them?"

"Sort of?" Dick scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He knew Cisco would be upset about the Batarangs. Cisco was really sensitive about his tech. They were like his kids. Dick decided to change the subject before things got out of hand. "So, back to Barbara, she and I broke up a while ago. Now I'm dating another girl."

"Well, you were always a lady's man," Cisco took one of the most damaged of the Batarangs and began to examine it with a magnifying glass, "At least, that's what you keep telling me over and over again. Who's the new beau?"

"Her name is Kori Anderson. She's new in the U.S."

"So, she's from out of town?"

"You could say that, yeah. She has red hair too, by the way."

"What's with you and all the red-heads? It's it some kind of fetish or something?" Cisco knew that Dick always liked red-heads. He didn't know why. He just assumed it was a fetish.

"Says the guy that likes brunettes," Dick teased.

"Hey, I'm not _that_ picky." Cisco actually liked brunettes. He wasn't at all picky. He liked blondes and red-heads as well but for some unknown reason, brunettes have always been his personal attraction like that Kendra Saunders at the café.

"Yes, you are," Dick disagreed with him, "I'm guessing you're _still_ not dating."

"I date," Cisco objected with a scoff, "I go on dates. I just don't have a girlfriend."

"You should have a girlfriend by now. I mean, come on, how do you not have a girlfriend right now? You're smart, you're a good kid, you're funny and you have an adorable face." Okay, that sounded a bit gay right now, Cisco thought when Dick said that, "I think it's something most nerds would say…Adorkable."

"Haha. Very funny, Grayson," Cisco laughed sarcastically, "It's not like I haven't tried to get a girlfriend. I asked a lot of girls on dates. Some said _no_ and those that said _yes_ , was only a one-time date. I don't know, man, maybe God is telling me that I'm not ready for a girlfriend right now."

Cisco did try to get a girlfriend. He really did. But he wasn't much of a strong hot jock most girls would want. Sure, he had an adorable face and a big brain but he noticed that most women were not looking for guys like Cisco. He still remembered getting rejected by his high school crush after asking her to the school's graduation dance. It hurt him a bit realizing that she didn't like Cisco. He even remembered a few guys laughing at him for his failed attempt. It was humiliating. But he was here, working at S.T.A.R. Labs while some of his rivals probably worked as a cashier in Starbucks and hadn't heard of his high school crush in years. His brother Dante was already engaged with a woman. Cisco didn't know her name and didn't care much. In fact, he didn't care what Dante was doing in his life besides being a successful musician.

"I thought you didn't believe in God," Dick said.

"I believe in God's existence," Cisco took out Latex gloves and slipped them on. He also took out a pair of plastic goggles and a screwdriver. "I'm just not a big fan of going to church and listening to all those loud preachers having epileptic seizures. And if he's watching me, I'm sure that either he has other plans for me or that the girls I dated were never for me."

"Don't worry, Ramon, you'll find someone that will actually like you," Dick assured him while patting him on the back.

"Yeah, I'll try to find a hot chick that doesn't have eyes for a brainless jock."

"I'm a jock."

"Exactly," Cisco chuckled as he got to work on the Batarang.

"Screw you, Ramon! Fix my equipment before I find someone else in Central City that can do the job."

"Bruh, there's no one else that can do the job for you but _muah_ over here." Unfortunately for Cisco, that was untrue. There was another person that could do the job and that would be Felicity Smoak. But he rather not tell Dick that.

"Hey, what's this?" Dick looked at the computer monitor where he saw the costume Cisco was working on and his blue eyes widened in surprise, "Holy crap. Dude, is that Deathstroke?"

Cisco stopped what he was doing and looked at Dick with a questionable look. "You heard of him?"

"Yeah, Batman has been tracking him down and fighting him over the last couple of months before he disappeared," Dick explained. Cisco was surprised Dick never said this to him before. Perhaps it was because the Dark Knight wanted to keep the information classified. Of course, Slade didn't mention anything either about him going against the man in the batsuit himself. They really needed to talk more often.

"Well, if you're looking for him, you can stop. He's in Starling City," he said. _I should not have said that_. He felt like punching himself right now for saying that. If Dick didn't kill Cisco, there was a 99.9% chance that Slade would kill him.

"You're working for him?" Dick asked. It was more of a statement than a question and Dick sounded very surprised asking that.

"No, not really. I'm just helping him redesign his costume." _Another slip. Way to go, Cisco_.

"What!?" Dick instantly snapped, "Cisco, are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? Deathstroke is dangerous. Didn't you just tell me on the phone once that he tried to kill you and Caitlin?"

He did. Once back in Central City, Cisco called Dick to tell him all about what happened at the S.T.A.R. Labs in Starling where he and Caitlin were almost killed by Slade.

"I did. But he's not killing me anymore." Cisco hoped Slade wouldn't kill him anymore, especially after blurted out that he was in Starling City to Dick. _I'm a dead man, that's it. I'm a dead man. Just prepare my own funeral guy_. "Are you seriously gonna start antagonizing me over this?"

"You're my friend, Cisco. Practically a brother," Dick said, "I'm not antagonizing you. I'm trying to save you from making the biggest mistake of your life. The man is dangerous."

"Yeah, I know. Everyone told me that, including Deathstroke himself." If he had a dollar for every time someone told him that Deathstroke was dangerous, he would buy a T-shirt at Hot Topics. Caitlin didn't know anything about Cisco helping Deathstroke. He wasn't planning to. Not yet though.

"Then why are you helping him?" Dick asked.

That was a good question. "I don't know," Cisco shrugged. Saving Kendra from the bastard of Colton would be one of the reasons. "I mean, I know he almost killed me and Caitlin. But um, I just have this feeling. A gut feeling that I have to trust him for some reason. It's like a vibe I keep feeling."

"Are you sure it's not a vibrator in your ass?" Dick asked.

Cisco looked at him with his face contorted in a disgusted expression. "What? No! Don't be a pig, man…Just…Trust me on this, okay? I know what I'm doing."

"It's your funeral, man. Bats is not going to like this." Dick stepped away from the computer monitor and continued roaming around the lab, taking looks at the different chemistry sets.

"Well, you're not telling him, right?" Cisco asked while returning to work on the Batarang.

"Of course not. I'm not getting you in shit with him. But if he does find out, then you're dead."

Batman would have to get in line. Slade was definitely going to kill him if he found out Cisco just gave out his location to Dick Grayson, aka. Nightwing. _I am so fucked_.

Cisco's phone rang again. He thought that if it was that Damian kid again, he would hang up instantly. He picked up the phone but it was actually Felicity's friend John Diggle. He recognized the phone number belonging to Felicity so he wondered why Mr. Diggle would be calling from her phone.

"Hello?...Yes, this is Francisco Ramon...What? What do you mean she -? Holy shit. Do you know what car it is? I'll get right on it. Give me the license plate number. Don't hang up." Cisco immediately went to his computers as fast as he could. He shot off the schematics for the suit and immediately hacked into the security cameras. Dick stared at him with confusion.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"A friend of mine and her kid just got kidnapped by two crazy people," Cisco informed.

"Who?"

"Felicity Smoak and Rachel Roth."

Rachel Roth. Dick heard of her name before. It was a long time ago. But he remembered her name. He couldn't remember her though. Batman saved so many lives that all the names would slip from his mind. Batman, on the other hand, had a great memory and would know everyone's name and who they were. But still, to Dick, the name rang a bell.

* * *

 **Clock Tower, Starling City.**

They held hands as they continued up the stairs. Felicity could hear Oliver's angry grunts as he was punching that the dummy he used for wing chun. Not a good sign, she thought. Oliver was still mad at her for walking out on him the other day. She didn't care though. She just wanted to get it over with.

"Try not to behead him, Slade," she whispered to him.

"I can't make promises I can't keep, love, but you are my exception," he said and kissed her head before they proceeded to climb upstairs to where Oliver was.

When they got to the top of the Clock Tower, it was like entering a Danger Zone. Automatically, Felicity could hear the RED ALERT alarm beeping at the back of her head. She knew that it was dangerous to bring Slade. Oliver may have apologized to Slade about Shado's death but he still held a bit of a grudge for Slade killing his mother. Oliver was being a bit unfair though. If Slade could forgive Oliver for what happened to Shado then Oliver should certainly forgive Slade for Moira's death. It was a win win. However, Felicity was aware that Oliver didn't do well with forgiving enemies or giving people second chances. Felicity was entering a very dangerous zone. One that she had to be careful with. She would be stepping on a mine again and if she stepped out, it would explode. Oliver was the mine and when he saw Slade, he was going to explode.

"Oliver…" Felicity announced her presence.

When Oliver turned around to see both Felicity and Slade, his eyes went wide and his body went tense. It took less than five seconds when Oliver quickly grabbed the bow and arrow and began to aim it at Slade. Felicity immediately got in the way.

"Woah, woah, woah, Ollie, _put_ the _bow_ _down_ ," she said while raising her hands up.

"Felicity, are you out of your mind!?" Oliver snapped, "Why did you bring him here!?"

"Put the bow down, Oliver, we just want to talk," she said.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, Felicity. Now get him out of here or I'll have to shoot him out," he threatened. Felicity frowned at him. She didn't like being threatened, not even by her closest friend. Of course, Slade took this as a challenge.

"Go ahead, kid, let's see what happens. I dare you."

"No, Slade," she bit back harshly and Slade fell silent. She then turned back to Oliver who was still aiming the bow. "Put the bow down, Oliver. I'm being serious. You two are going to settle this feud right here right now."

"You've got to be fucking joking," Oliver said.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Felicity raised her eyebrow at him. Oliver slowly lowered the bow down but did not let go. He was still getting ready to shoot Slade in the other eye with the arrow any second. "Listen, I know you didn't want to do this but you left me no choice."

"And I'm guessing Slade didn't have a say in this either."

"Slade _agreed_ to be here," she told him. This made Oliver a bit shocked. "Now, what I want you two are going to sit down and talk. Man to man. Robin Hood to Pirate." This remark earned her a glare from both Slade and Oliver. "Forget I said that. No fists. No swords. No bows. No arrows. Just talk. I'll be downstairs with Diggle and if I heard a commotion from downstairs, I will come back up here and scream until your heads explodes. Got it?"

"You can really do that?" Oliver asked her. He had seen Felicity use the cry before but he never saw her use it to cause actually bodily harm like ear bleeds and brain damage.

"No but there's always a first time," she smirked at him before turning to face Slade, "Behave."

Slade smirked and chuckled mischievously. Felicity knew that she should be careful when he smirked like that. Who knows if he planned something? But Felicity brushed it off and went downstairs to join Diggle and Rachel.

* * *

The two men sat across each other, staring at each other sternly. Slade would look at his watch every now and then, waiting for Oliver to say something. Oliver simply glared at Slade. It was like they were having a glaring contest. So far, Oliver was winning and Slade was getting bored.

"Felicity wants us to talk and she already threatened to blow up our heads with her cry. Of course, I am unsure if she is able to do so but I rather not risk it," Slade said. Felicity was still discovering her abilities so no one really knew what she was capable of, not even Slade. Without warning, she could actually kill them with her cries.

"How did you get out of jail?" Oliver asked glumly.

"That is your first question?" Slade asked. He did the same thing when he kidnapped Thea, a decision he regretted. She was still a young girl and had nothing to do with what happened to Shado. What's done was done though.

"Yep. That is my first question."

"Cisco Ramon," Slade said, "He works at S.T.A.R. Labs as an engineer. I'm guessing you already know the name."

"Felicity has told me his name a few times," Oliver nodded when he remembered the name, "You chased him and another scientist named Caitlin Snow."

"That's on me," Slade said with a smile but he really regretted it, "Anyways, Mr. Ramon tampered with Iron Heights' computers and reduced my sentence. He is a very clever kid. He's been admiring the persona of Deathstroke for a while and has been helping me redesign my suit which to be honest, I find it quite unnecessary. I happen to like my old suit. A good kid nonetheless."

"He's a kid, Slade. He doesn't know what's really in front of him until he takes a good look," Oliver said sternly, "If you're planning on hurting Felicity, Rachel or Cisco, you have another thing coming."

"I think I made it perfectly clear at the court that I no longer have intentions of hurting Felicity or the child of hers," Slade sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "She is merely a child. I wouldn't stoop so low, Oliver. As for Cisco, I have no intention of hurting him either. He has already proven his worth to me."

"You shot Felicity. I don't see how that was not intentional."

"I was aiming for _you_ , Queen!" Slade snapped at him angrily, almost getting up from his seat, "I was going to shoot _you_ , not her. _She_ was the one who got in the way, to save you."

"I didn't ask her to save me."

"No, of course not," Slade sat back down again and took steady breaths to calm himself down. She did it on her account. And now you're here thanks to her."

"And then you killed Isabel instead," Oliver reminded him, "A life for a life, they've always said. You hated Isabel. I think you couldn't stand her more than you couldn't stand me."

"Isabel has been giving me the greatest of headaches," Slade agreed with him, "The reason why I killed her is because she threatened Felicity's life. She lost control of herself. I couldn't allow her to kill her. So I was forced to put her down permanently."

"You broke her neck."

"Yes. Once I break her neck, I disconnected her brain from her body. Once that's done, the Mirakuru cannot heal the subject if the brain doesn't respond to it. The only way for the body and brain to respond to the Mirakuru once more is that you reconnect the brain to the body."

"So if you put her neck back into place, Isabel might be brought back to life?"

"Exactly. But I don't intend on bringing her back from the grave. The bitch has been at my hide for far too long."

"Why are you telling me this?" Oliver asked skeptically. "You know that I could use this information to try and take you down."

"I am fully aware of that, kid," Slade smirked, "but you won't. Felicity is aware that we both have our differences. If you do anything to kill me, Felicity will never forgive you. In fact, we're both at each other's throat right now and she expects us to make peace. Doubt that will ever happen with our history —."

"You killed my mother, Slade!" Oliver snapped as he stood up from his seat. "You drove a sword through her heart in cold blood while she was tied up. You put me in a position where you were forcing me to choose between my own sister and mother. And you just killed her."

"I am sorry about Moira, Oliver," Slade sighed without looking at him in the eyes, "Despite all the things she did, she was a strong woman. But her death is on you, Oliver."

"How can all of this be _my_ fault, Slade!?" Oliver continued snapping at him.

"Do I have to repeat myself, kid? You know how it was your fault!"

"Do you really think I didn't try, Slade!? Trust me. I tried. I fucking tried. I tried to save Shado. I tried to save them both. But Ivo had me tied up. I couldn't save them both. I tried not to choose but he already killed Shado anyways. I wanted to tell you the truth, Slade. I really did. But since you were on Mirakuru, I just didn't know how you were going to take it. And then Ivo messed with your head. I couldn't find the way to help you. You were so angry at me for not saving Shado. I tried and failed, Slade. So I'm sorry if I failed to save Shado and I'm sorry I failed to save you."

"I'm not accepting your apology, kid. I will never forgive you for what you did but —."

They suddenly heard a gunshot coming from outside the Clock Tower along with Felicity's and Rachel's screams.

* * *

"So do you think they might be working things out?" Diggle asked as he handed back Rachel to Felicity. Felicity let out a frustrated groan and shrugged.

"I really don't know," she said, "I really hope Slade isn't strangling Oliver right now."

"Well, I can hear them talking from down here so that has to be a good sign," Diggle said hopefully.

"Yeah, hopefully," she said.

Felicity and Diggle immediately heard a car honk. An old brown car was parked just outside the Clock Tower. Felicity looked at Diggle puzzled. The window of the car rolled down, revealing the face of a young woman with light brown skin, dark brown eyes and brown hair with streaks of white hair at the ends.

"Excuse me," she called out. She had a strange accent, almost Arabic, "Would you mind giving me directions to Big Belly Burgers? I'm a little lost and I have no idea where I'm going."

"Um sure," Felicity said as she put Rachel down and stepped outside with her in hand. Diggle followed behind her just case something went askew. "If you already passed Queens Consolidated, Big Belly Burgers is just around the corner."

"Thank you," the young woman thanked Felicity before pulling out a gun and shooting Diggle down to the ground.

Rachel squealed in terror. Felicity screamed at the woman who shot Diggle, forcing her to drop her gun to cover her ears and the windows to shatter.

Felicity then saw Rachel drop to the ground unconscious. "Rachel!" Felicity cried out and bent down to pick up the child, only to feel a sharp pain on the base of her neck and dropped to the ground as well.

The woman chuckled in amusement as she stepped out of the car and a young man stepped out from the shadows of the alleyway with the tranquilizer gun in his hand. "Nice shooting, Tex. Let's get them to the car. You take Smoak and I take the kid."

"What about this guy?" he asked, pointing at Diggle was still bleeding on the pavement.

"Leave him," she said, "We got what we need. We don't need him."

"Why do you get to carry the kid?" the young man asked as he scooped up Felicity's unconscious form in his arms while the woman picked up the small bundle of a child.

"Because you're bigger and stronger than me," she said as they trotted away from the Clock Tower as quickly as they could before the Arrow and Deathstroke could catch up to them. "Besides, she may look skinny but she's probably heavy as fuck."

Turned out the brown car wasn't even theirs. The young man and woman stole it from a drug dealer they shot at the Glades. The blue car that Slade spotted outside the court room was parked in an alleyway where the young man came from. Felicity was loading in the backseat but Rachel was still held in the woman's arms as both she and the young man were getting in the car.

Slade and Oliver ran out of the Clock Tower to find Diggle shot on the pavement. It was a shot on the shoulder. He was still alive. But there was no Felicity or Rachel to be seen. They then spotted the blue car and noticed Felicity inside the backseat. She was knocked out. And Rachel was being carried by the girl Slade saw outside the court room.

"Felicity!" Slade yelled out.

The woman in the passenger's seat smirked and stuck her middle finger at him before the blue car backed up from the alleyway and sped forward, disappearing into the streets.

* * *

 **Let's see. Who else did we just introduced? I introduced Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Roman Sionis/Black Mask and mentioned Batman, Oracle and Starfire. Anyone else? The two people that kidnapped Felicity and Rachel, I'm guessing you already know who they were. If not, you'll probably know in further chapters.**

 **Who were those people that kidnapped Felicity and Rachel? Are they working Colton or the Black Mask? What was there purpose?**

 **Here you have it. I'll have another chapter explaining all these questions. Thanks for reading.**

 **Review. Tell me what you think of this chapter and thank you all for reading this chapter.**


	32. Chapter 32: Bloodline Rising (Part 1)

Chapter 32:

 **Hey, guys, I have another chapter ready for you. The chapter is going to be divided in two parts since the chapter is very long. Since this is more like a race-against-time chapter, it hastily written. I'm posting part 1 right now. Part 2 will come soon.**

* * *

"You shot her with the wrong dart, you dumbass…"

Felicity's eyes were fluttering open at the sound of people talking. Two people. One male. One female. They echoed in her head. _Where am I?_

"Does it matter?" the male voice asked.

"It does if you gave a heavier dose to a child. That dose was supposed to be for the bitch back there…"

 _Child? Rachel_. Felicity consciousness was kicking in quickly as well as mother instincts. She remembered what happened. Diggle got shot. She and Rachel were darted. And now they were taken. _What have they done to Rachel?_

"She'll wake up eventually," he said.

"And what if she doesn't wake up, dumbass?" the female asked, "You just put a six-year-old child in a coma."

 _What did she mean by that?_ _Coma?_ Felicity thought, her breath growing heavy as she tried very hard to wake herself up from unconsciousness. She recognizes the woman's voice. It was the same woman that was asking her for directions to Big Belly Burgers. It was all a trap, however.

"Um, aren't we supposed to be villains? Villains don't care about other people's lives. Call me a dumbass again and —."

"Dumb and ass. What are you going to do about? Hit me. I'll break your neck in less than ten seconds before you can do anything to me. Besides, you can't kill me. We're both on Mirakuru so like or not, you're stuck with me until we get this shit over with. So suck it up."

"Rachel," Felicity whispered out loud, hoping that someone could hear her.

"Huh, would you look at that, Sleeping Beauty is awake. Great," the woman said unimpressed.

Felicity's eyes snapped open and slowly sat up. She was in the backseat of a car. She looked at her wrist at the sound of a small beep. She had a metal bracelet around her wrist with a red beeping light. _What is this?_ She looked around her surroundings. She was somewhere in Starling City but didn't know where. It was nighttime. How long was I asleep. Her eyes then went wide when she saw the two kidnappers that snatched both her and Rachel from the Clock Tower. The woman with curly brown hair highlighted in white and brown eyes smudged with dark eyeliner. She looks Arabic and possibly in her late teens, possibly 17 or 18. Either way, Felicity thought she was way too young to kidnap people. As for the man in the driver's seat, he was clearly Australian by the way he was speaking to the woman. He looks the same age as the woman, his eyes and hair were brown as well. Felicity never met any of them but for some reason they all looked familiar.

"Who are you people?" Felicity asked and immediately panicked when she saw Rachel in the woman's arms. "What did you do to Rachel?"

She nearly lunged at the woman but was quickly pointed at with a gun. "Shh. Quiet. She's sound asleep. Besides, listening to you annoys me. I am called Gül and this is Ravager. And before you try screaming at us, that bracelet around your wrist is a power-suppresser. In other words, you can't use that cry of yours."

"Why did to take us?" Felicity continued asking, "Did my father send you? Where are we? What do you want —?"

The woman called Gül once again pointed the gun but at Rachel's head instead. "Right now, I want you to shut the fuck up, unless you want me to put a bullet in this kid's head."

"No, don't," Felicity gasped in terror, "Don't hurt her, please. She's just a kid."

"Believe me, honey. I have no interest in killing her but I will do it if you don't shut the hell up. I don't give two fucks if she's just a kid."

"Okay, okay." Felicity knew that if she didn't want a bullet in Rachel's skull, she'd have to keep quiet. And she couldn't risk using her cries. That was another thing that could get them both killed. And for some reason, she had a feeling she couldn't use her cries. And maybe it was the metal bracelet around her wrist. "I'll stop talking. Just give her to me, please. Don't hurt her."

"Why should I give her to you?" Gül's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Because if you don't, she'll wake up scared." It was the stupidest excuse Felicity could ever come up with but she tried. It was the truth, of course. "Please."

"…Fine. Here." Gül handed the gun over to Ravager and cautiously handed Rachel over to Felicity. Felicity took Rachel in her arms and embraced her tightly. She felt like a heavy ragdoll. _What have they done to her?_ Felicity thought. "She was getting heavy anyways. And no talking. I'm going to make a phone call. Do anything funny, and Ravager will blow both of your heads off."

Felicity nodded and did as told. She remained quiet. She padded Rachel's cheeks in order to wake her up but nothing seemed to be working. Rachel was comatose. She wanted to ask Gül what she and Ravager did to Rachel but was afraid to anger them even more. The Gül girl already looked like she was on a brink of killing her just by talking, she didn't want to give her another reason to shoot her.

Felicity would have to wait and see what happened.

* * *

Slade, Oliver and Diggle arrived at S.T.A.R. three hours after the kidnapping. Diggle had to have his shoulder stitched before getting a move on. Oliver was anxious. Slade was desperate and furious. He wouldn't stop snapping at Diggle for letting the two strangers get away with the girls. The woman that shot Diggle caught her by surprise; he didn't know she was going to shoot him nor did he knew she had a gun. She was fast, just as fast as Slade. The snapping last more than five minutes until Oliver grew tired of it and told them both to shut up. "We are not yelling in this car, do you hear me? No one is yelling in this car!" It was getting ridiculous. The girls got captured by two psychopaths and Oliver was telling them not to yell.

Slade kept thinking the worst case scenarios on the way to S.T.A.R. Labs. What if they were dead? What if they were murdered and throw in the river somewhere? What if the people that captured them worked for Colton? What if Colton paid them to capture them? So many worst case scenarios swam through his head, it was making him angrier and more desperate.

"We're going to find them, Slade. I'm worried too. But we need to calm down."

"The girls got captured by two unknown kidnappers, kid. There's no time to be calmed."

"Why would they kidnap the girls?" Diggle asked, "Unless they work for Colton."

"If they work for Colton, then we might have a problem," Oliver said.

"It might be a possibility," Slade said, "But I'm afraid they do not work for Colton. And I don't think they're after Felicity or Rachel. They're after me."

"How would you know that?" Oliver asked skeptically.

"The woman that took the girls, she was at the court the day of your trial," Slade explained. "She was sitting near the ladies' bathroom, listening to music and reading a book. At least, that's what I thought she was. Then when the explosives detonated in the courtroom, she appeared once again and practically gave me the middle finger before leaving. I followed her but she already got into a car and left."

"So, whoever she is, she's the one who installed the firecrackers in the courtroom," Diggle said while holding an ice pack to his shoulder to ease the pain. "And the fact that she managed to hide it from everyone's sight that must have been a very smart woman. Those firecrackers were meant to get your attention, I'm guessing."

"You're guess is correct. But as far as I'm correct, it wasn't enough for her. I tried to forget it ever happened. But it seemed she wasn't done. She wanted my attention. She already has it. The question is, who is she and what does she want with me?" Slade kept asking himself.

"So, you have no idea who she is. A relative? Another of your soldiers with a grudge? A lover? A relative of Isabel's?" Diggle asked. Slade simply shook his head.

"I have never seen her before in my life. I don't know who she is," Slade said.

"But she seems to know you, Slade, and whoever she is, she really didn't look happy with you," Oliver said, "She has the girls and gave you the middle finger…twice. We need to find them and fast."

"…If they're not dead yet," Slade muttered. Of course, Oliver must have heard it.

"Don't think like that," Oliver snapped at him, "We'll find them, Slade. Don't give up hope."

"Hope is not going to save Felicity _or_ Rachel, kid."

Oliver was surprised Slade even cared about Rachel. He didn't think Slade would care about a child, or anyone else in general. Rachel was not even Slade's child. She wasn't Felicity's either and yet Felicity treated her like she was hers.

When they got to S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco was already at works searching for the girls. When Slade and the others arrived, Cisco noticed that Slade looked red in the face and looked like he was about to pass out. Oliver even made Slade sit down before he could do any damage. Slade sat down on a chair next to Cisco and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Hey, you okay?" Cisco asked, only to receive an angry glare from Slade. He immediately took back the question, eyes widening and his arms raised up in defence. "Sorry. Forget I asked that."

"The girls were kidnapped by two people we don't know about, Cisco," Slade growled, "I'm not in the greatest of moods right now."

"Listen, we're going to find them, okay?" Cisco assured him. He attempted to put a hand on Slade's shoulder but thought against it since Slade wasn't in a good mood, as he mentioned before. Oliver and Diggle approached Cisco and asked him if he had any leads on finding the girls. "I had a lead."

"What do you mean by _had_ a lead?" Diggle asked with his arms crossed.

"Well, I found the blue car you described before you got shot. I also searched the license plate Slade mentioned on the phone," Cisco typed away through his computer to zoom in on satellite footage. It zoomed in on a blue car parked in the middle of the field. The car was burned to a crisp and surrounded by police tape and cops roaming around. Slade's eye widened at the sight. But Oliver was the first one to speak.

"What the hell happened there?"

"The car you guys told me about was found in a field a few hours ago and it was on fire," Cisco informed, "I even checked the ownership. That car was purchased two weeks ago in cash and no credit cards. Whoever these people are, they're being very careful to cover their tracks. It looks like they took another car."

"Did they find another bodies in there?" Slade asked tensely. He was horrified at the thought of seeing the police retrieve the burnt bodies of a woman and a child. Felicity and Rachel. He didn't want to think of them dead.

"The previous car was empty. The police didn't find any bodies nor did they find any fingerprints or suspects," Cisco said, "Aside from the burning car, the whole thing looked like it was just vandalized."

Slade slammed his fist against the hard surface of the desk, making it crack and almost making the computers fall. Oliver and Diggle had to run and hold them up to keep them from tumbling over. Cisco jumped back with a startle. "Hey, whoa, could you do me a favour and not crash my stuff here. Breaking things here is not going to help find them."

Slade abruptly stood up from his seat. "This is ridiculous," he growled, "The girls might be dead and we're sitting here like idiots." He began to walk out to the entrance.

"Where are you going?" Oliver began following and tried to stop him from leaving. There was no telling what Slade was going to do if he was allowed to leave.

"I'm going to put on my suit and find the girls myself," Slade growled in anger, thinking that sitting here in S.T.A.R. Labs was a waste of time.

Unfortunately, the exit was blocked by Caitlin Snow, Dr. Harrison Wells in his wheel chair and another guy he immediately recognized as Dick Grayson. _Son of a bitch_ , Slade thought as he glared daggers at the kid he once confronted a year ago in Gotham City.

"Mr. Wilson," Dr. Wells spoke up as he wheeled into the lab, "I understand that you're desperate and anxious to finding the girls. We all are but listen for a moment." Slade was listening but continued glaring at Dick Grayson. "You don't know where they are or who took them or what they really want. You need to think this through. Going out there wreaking havoc is not going to help find them."

"Slade, come on," Cisco stood up and also tried reasoning with him, "I'm doing the best I can. These people are obviously trying to keep us from finding them."

"Why do we need _him_?" Slade asked while still glaring at Dick.

Cisco scratched the back of his head awkwardly and uncomfortably. He knew something like this was going to happen one day. Deathstroke vs. Nightwing. An epic fight but not the one they needed right now. Cisco really hoped Slade didn't start throwing a punch at Dick. The fight wouldn't end well. It would obviously end with one of them dying. And Cisco was not willing to mop up blood from the floor if it happened.

"He's my friend," Cisco explained, "I designed _his_ suit. And his gadgets."

Slade turned to glare at Cisco. The kid could tell that he and Dick did not get along in the past by the way both of them stared at him. Caitlin simply stepped away and went to the medical bay to attend Barry. She obviously didn't want to get involved whatever war zone Dick and Slade going on. Caitlin had met Dick a couple of times before and she definitely remembered Slade from last time.

"Remind me to kill you after we save the girls," Slade sighed and patted him on the back and returned to his seat. Cisco let out a startled squeak.

The phone next to Cisco's desk rang. "Phone! Phone!" Cisco shouted as he ran over to it as it were the end of the world. He immediately picked it and put it to his ear. "Hello?" The others waited in silence and watched Cisco's brow furrow in confusion. "Yes? This is S.T.A.R. Labs. Who is this?" He looked up at the others, mostly at Slade, with eyes wide but kept the phone to his ear. "Yes, he's here…Put you speaker? Why?...Okay, okay, don't need to be mean."

Cisco took the phone from his ear put it down next to the receiver before pressing the speaker on and looking up at Slade. "It's for you."

Slade stepped away from Dick and walked passed Cisco to the phone. It was on speaker so there was no need to put the phone to his ear. "Who is this?" he asked roughly.

" _You're worst nightmare about to come true, Slade._ " a female voice was heard through the receiver. The female voice seemed to have the same Arabic accent, one that both Slade and Diggle recognized. It was the same woman from the court and the same woman that kidnapped Felicity and Rachel. Everyone looked at each other at the sound of the voice but Dick seemed to be the one that was more astonished.

"Holy shit," Dick nearly gasped. "I think I know who that is."

Oliver looked at Dick seriously. "Who?'

"I had an encounter with her in San Francisco," Dick explained, "She nearly sliced off my head and nearly got one of friends killed. She stabbed her through the gut and twisted her insides. They all call her _Gül_. She's from Southeast Europe."

"Arabic?" Caitlin asked after returning from the medical bay.

"No, she's Turkish," Dick shook his head.

"Dude, how do you know this girl?" Cisco asked.

"You don't want to know," Dick said. Of course, Cisco already figured how he knew the woman. Cisco simply rolled his eyes. He knew that Dick's playboyism was going to be him into trouble one day. Now they were probably facing a psycho ex with a grudge against Slade for some reason.

* * *

Felicity sat there in silence while holding Rachel to her body. The woman named Gül was on the phone while the Ravage guy was eyeing on eye maliciously with a smirk across his face. Felicity ignored him and continued trying to wake up Rachel who was unresponsive.

Gül noticed Ravager eyeing at the blonde IT girl and with a swift movement, she roughly nudged him against the ribcage, causing him to cry out in pain. "Ow. What the fuck!?"

"Focus, dumbass," she gritted her teeth at him. She glared at Felicity for a moment before going back to her phone. Once the phone call was answered, she put the phone above the glove compartment and on speaker.

" _Hello?_ "

Felicity immediately recognized the voice on the phone to be Cisco's. Felicity was about to move from her backseat when Ravager pointed the gun at her. Felicity froze in her seat and protectively placed a hand on the back of Rachel's head. Ravager smirked when Felicity stopped cold and winked at her. Gül simply rolled her eyes in annoyance and continued talking towards the phone.

"Is this S.T.A.R. Labs?" Gül asked out loud, making sure her voice was heard.

" _Yes? This is S.T.A.R. Labs. Who is this_?"

"Is there a Slade Wilson with you?" Gül asked.

Felicity feels confused right now. _What does she want with Slade? Who is this woman?_ She thought. Of course, she was more worried on trying to wake up Rachel so they could get out of here than worrying about what these two psychopaths wanted with Slade. She kept patting the child's cheeks but with no response. Felicity's eyes widened when she noticed that Rachel's lips were turning into a light shade of blue. _Oh my God. Please don't stop breathing_.

" _Yes, he's here_ ," Cisco responded.

 _What? Slade is there? In .R. Labs?_ Felicity wanted to say something, to tell Cisco that she was okay or to at least tell the two crazy people that Rachel needed to be taken to a hospital immediately. But Felicity was afraid of having a bullet in Rachel's head to say anything.

"Put him on speaker," Gül requested.

" _Why_?" Cisco asked.

"Do as I say, idiot!" Gül snapped at the phone, making Felicity flinch.

" _Okay, okay. Don't need to be mean_ … _It's for you_." There was a moment of silence before another person replaces Cisco's voice.

" _Who is this?_ " Slade. Felicity nearly sighed of relief at the familiar voice that belonged to Slade.

"Your worst nightmare about to come true, Slade," Gül said cockily and teasingly. It made Felicity want to punch her but she then remembered hearing something about those two having Mirakuru in their system while she was waking up, so she immediate rejected the idea. _Are they Mirakuru soldiers?_

" _Who the fuck are you and what have you done with them?_ " Slade asked roughly. He did not sound at all happy. He sounded furious. Of course Slade would be furious. Slade and Felicity had only been together for barely two days and now they were being targeted. It was getting ridiculous.

"You mean your bitch and her brat?" Gül chuckled in amusement. She seemed to be having fun with Slade's anger. "Don't worry. They're right here with us, safe and sound…for now. So, here's the thing, Slade Wilson…or should I say Deathstroke." Felicity's caught a lump in her throat when she said that and swallowed. The woman knew Slade's secret and there was no telling if she already knew Oliver's secret of being the Arrow. "This is going to sound very cliché but you're going to do as I say or I'm going to kill them both. Ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. I wonder how many criminals have said that already."

" _What do you want with me?_ " Slade asked. " _If you took them for a simple ransom, I'll be more than happy to pay you just to let them go and to get you off my ass_."

"I'll be honest, a ransom doesn't sound like a bad idea at the moment," Gül continued speaking while twirling one of her curls. Felicity kept looking around for anything in the backseat that could be used for a weapon. There was nothing in the car. It was completely clean. It was like the pair recently stole this very car from a dealership or something. And she guessed the car was in automatic lock. So even if she tried unlocking the doors, they would just lock themselves again and it would put Felicity in bigger trouble with the psychos. "But it's more of a personal interest, Slade, and right now I'm interested in _you_ specifically," Gül kept on explained.

" _Why?_ " Slade asked.

"I might tell you soon but not with your groupie around," Gül said, "I know that Oliver Queen and John Diggle are with you. I can hear them breathing. If that's how they breathe, I don't want to hear them snore. I also know that Dick Grayson is there. I can hear him talk all the way here. Hello, Grayson. How's Kori? Are you going to answer or you're still mad about me almost tearing out her guts out."

" _Go to hell!_ " That was another man's voice, one that Felicity didn't recognize. Could that be Dick Grayson Gül was referring to?

"Are you going to tell her about our one-night stand or should I? No? Okay. Back to you, Slade," Gül was gloated. She was enjoying the entire conversation, making everyone angry. Felicity, on the other hand, was desperate. She could die for all she cared but didn't want Rachel dying on her. "I want a meeting with you. Face to face. Alone. No guards. No Mirakuru soldiers. No blonde bitches in a ponytails and short skirts. And no vigilantes in green hoods."

" _You're doing all this just so you can meet with Slade?_ " That was Cisco again. " _What happened to a simply phone call or a text message? Why go so far to kidnapping people? I don't know about you but don't you think that's a little bit extreme?_ "

"Slade, could you tell the weirdo to shut up?" Gül groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance, "It's bad enough I have to listen to the blonde's blabbering, I don't need to listen to him too."

" _Cisco, not the time right now_ ," Slade responded before returning to his conversation with Gül. " _Tell me where you are and I'll be there in a heartbeat_."

"Oh, I'm a long way from Central City and you're away from Starling City," Gül gloated. Ravager snickered next to her and was about to turn the key in the ignition when Gül halted him by placing a hand firmly around his wrist. She gave him a stern look and wagged her finger at him side to side, telling him _no_. Felicity wondered what those two were planning to do if Slade refused to the terms of their meeting because even _she_ knew there were terms.

" _Slade, they're still in Starling City_ ," Cisco spoke up again, " _I traced the phone call. They're at Starling City Bridge_."

Felicity could have sighed in relief if it weren't for the fact that Starling City Bridge was abandoned and isolated after the grand earthquake at the Glades. A lot of cars were still under water after the bridge broke and the vehicles went under along with the drivers and passengers. It was a tragic thing to happen and since the bridge was isolated, there was no cellphone service to call for help and the ambulances were too late to save those poor lives. Not many cars would pass through the bridge because many of them believed the bridge to be haunted. Plus there was barely a bridge left. And on top of all it, if Slade and Oliver were in Central City, they were way too far away from where they were. Even if Cisco finally found them, there was no guarantee that Slade or Oliver could save them in time, no matter how fast they ran and no matter how fast they drove. Gül and Ravager would kill them in before they could be reached. They would only be in time to recover the bodies, or whatever was left of the bodies.

Gül and Ravager knew this as well and they both laughed in amusement. A single tear ran down Felicity's cheek. She didn't think her death would be like this. But she was more worried about Rachel than herself. There was a grand possibility that Rachel wasn't breathing and that the dose Ravager gave her was doing more damage.

"I'll spare their lives, Slade," Gül said, "If you agree to meet with me. Not here."

" _Where_?"

"Queens Consolidated. Friday. 3 am. No back-up. Just you and me and a nice long chat," Gül drawled with a smirk.

" _And if I refuse not to_?" Slade asked. Felicity really wished he hadn't asked that.

Gül gave Ravager a look. As if on cue, Ravager turned the key in the ignition and the car started with a loud rumble.

"Then you can find your bitch and her kid in the bottom of the river for all I care," Gül snarled angrily at the phone.

Felicity's heart ceased up when Ravager turned on the headlights. The bridge (or whatever was left of it) was just a mile away from them. _Oh God_.

* * *

"Holy shit, they're going to kill them," Cisco panicked, "She's going to drown them. What do we do now? Slade, can you keep her on the phone a little longer?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Cisco?" Slade snapped. He was doing exactly what Cisco was telling him to do.

"I don't know. Phone sex could work," Dick suggested, only to receive a glare from Slade and eye rolls from the others.

"Bruh, please don't do that," Cisco urged him. Slade was already in a bad mood. There was no need to make it worse.

"I'm going to kill him," Slade threatened.

"Hey, no killing in my lab," Dr. Wells snapped harshly, "We just mopped here. If you're going to do that, do it outside after we solve this crap."

"Don't encourage him," Oliver groaned in frustration.

"Okay, first," Dick said, "Why the hell would Jack Sparrow over here ask if he refused? You don't ask that to a criminal. That's like Death on a stick right there."

"Guys, come on, let's focus," Diggle tried to calm them down. This was already getting out of hand. Felicity and Rachel were in trouble and they were too busy fighting on what they should do. "We need a plan."

"Actually, what we need is a miracle," Dick said, "Whatever brilliant plan you might come up with, it's not going to work if we're 600 miles away from Starling City."

"Hey, guys, what's going on?"

Everyone fell into silence and turned their heads to the medical bay where they found Barry Allen awake and standing. Caitlin was standing next to him. Cisco was more than happy to see Barry awake. Now Cisco finally had a plan to save the girls. He quickly ran up to Barry and gave him a brief hug.

"Man, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," he said, "We really need your help. Can you run?"

"Yeah, I think I can," Barry said, "I'm still a bit under the weather but I think I can run."

"Good, because we really need your help. Memorize these coordinates right now and get going to Starling City." he said. He grabbed Barry by the arm and pulled him to the computer screens. "Felicity and Rachel got kidnapped by two crazy people. I just traced their phone call but they're already about to die so we might be able to get to them in time. But _you_ can."

"Okay, okay, slow down, Cisco. Felicity got kidnapped? Holy crap!" Barry exclaimed. "Are they okay?"

"They won't be if you don't get going," Cisco said, "So I'm asking nicely -."

"GO NOW!" Slade roared angrily, scaring the hell out of Barry and making the fastest man alive bolt out of S.T.A.R. Labs in less than five seconds, papers flying everywhere and everyone stumbling backwards from the force. Slade literally scared Barry into running.

"Well, you got him going," Diggle said as he pushed himself up from the floor.

* * *

"Please, don't do this. She's not responding," Felicity told the pair while showing the child's pale face. "She needs to go to a hospital."

Gül rolled her eyes irritably and looked over at Ravager. "Told you you used too much of a heavy dose," she said dully.

"Aren't they going to die anyways?" Ravager shrugged his shoulders as he asked that while putting the gear in drive. "If the kid's dead, we just spared her from drowning to death."

"As sadistic as you are, dear brother, you are right," Gül said before turning to Felicity, "Sorry, honey, but I can't do anything about it."

Ravager began to drive the car forward. _Oh shit_ , Felicity thought. _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck_.

Felicity then shouted at the phone. "Slade, we need a doctor! Rachel is-."

Gül punched Felicity in the mouth to shut her up. Felicity spluttered out blood from her mouth and nose from the hard blow. For a girl of her age, Gül was a really puncher. It was probably because of the Mirakuru she had in her veins. Anyways, Felicity wiped off the blood from her mouth as the psycho girl continued snapping at Slade through the phone.

"You got less than thirty seconds, Slade Wilson or they're dead!" she snapped. She looked at Ravager and he began to speed.

"No, please, stop the car!" Felicity shouted.

"Shut up!" Gül snapped at her. Ravager sped up a bit more and the bridge was becoming closer and closer. _She's crazy_ , Felicity thought.

" _Don't do it_!" Slade snapped.

"What's it going to be then, Slade!? Yes or no! Answer now!"

"Slade, please!" Felicity cried out desperately.

" _All right_!" Slade roared furiously, " _You win! Stop the **fucking** car_!"

"You'll do what I say?" Gül now asked calmly but also darkly. Ravager was still speeding up towards the bridge and it was getting closer every second.

"Yes, we'll meet at Queens Consolidated! Friday! 3 am! No guards! No soldiers! Just you and me! Alone! All right!? Just stop the car! Stop the car right now!"

"Good," Gül grinned in satisfaction and jerked her chin at Ravager, signaling him to slow down the car. He did as told and slowed the car down. "Do you feel the irony right now, Slade. I'm punishing your bitch for your crimes as you punished Mr. Queen's mother for _his_ crimes."

Felicity's heart pounded so hard and fast against her chest, she thought it was going to explode. She hadn't felt so scared in her entire life. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she trembled violently. She clutched at Rachel tightly while preparing for the worst.

"I'll be there on Friday and hopefully, you be there too," Gül said, "If you don't show your face on Friday, it's not you who will be punished."

After that, she hung up the phone. She then looked over at Felicity and grinned at her.

"I may have a cold heart, honey. Be lucky I have a heart at all." Gül then looked over at Ravager and asked him to stop the car and drop the girls here on the spot.

Unfortunately, Ravager did not stop the car. He continued driving. Felicity watched and panicked.

"Why is he not stopping the car?" she asked.

Gül ignored Felicity and continued to glare at Ravager. "Ravager, did you not hear me? Stop the car."

"Why should we?" he asked. "We're here ready to kill. Why stop now? We drive this piece of shit down the bridge and leave these two to die."

"Ravager, I just made a deal. Don't ruin it for me. Stop the car. That's an order."

Instead of listening to her, Ravager began to speed forward again. Felicity cried out in horror. _This guy crazier than her_. _They're both psychos_.

" _Çılgın piç!_ Ravager, stop the fucking car!" Even Gül was beginning to panic. Ravager was driving too fast and was getting closer to the bridge. "Ravager! Grant!"

"Shut up and let me drive!" Ravager snapped back.

"Make him stop!" Felicity screamed in horror.

Gül took out her gun and aimed it...at Ravager's head. "Grant, stop this car or I'm putting you down!" she snarled.

The car was already heading to the edge of the bridge when Rachel's little eyes fluttered open. She had just recently woken up from her deep slumber. She looked up and when she saw the edge of a bridge closing in, her eyes turned black and she screamed.

The car suddenly turned its course, away from the edge of bridge, and began to spin out of control. Felicity, Rachel and Gül screamed as they tried to hold on to the whatever they could cling on. "What the fuck is this!?" Ravager yelled in confusion. Felicity held onto Rachel tightly and strapped the seatbelt on, keeping them both strapped in. Gül also strapped the seatbelt on.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" she screamed.

"It's not me!" Ravager yelled as he was trying to take back control of the steering wheel but it wasn't working. The car felt like it had a mind of its own.

Then the car stopped spinning and lifted itself from the car, making loud creaking sounds. The girls screamed (including Gül) as the car lifted up to a ninety degree angle, the taillights crunching and crushing against the pavement. "What the fuck!?" Gül shouted.

Felicity felt like the car was being lifted by the T-Rex from _Jurassic Park_ except that the T-Rex would be invisible.

After a minute or so of the car being lifted and straight as a board, the car fell backwards to the ground. Everyone screamed. Felicity had to lean to the side and cover Rachel with her own body as the roof of the car crushed down on them when it hit the pavement. Windows shattered. The car alarm began to blare. Passengers handing upside down. Gül and Ravager were shouting and cursing at each other, arguing about what just happened.

Felicity took this as an opportunity. She quickly but carefully lowered Rachel down and made her crawl out of the shattered window. While the two psychopaths were distracted, Felicity quickly unbuckled herself and fell from her backseat and landed on metal and shattered glass. She yelped as small pieces of glass pierced her flesh but continued to crawl out the same window Rachel crawled through.

Rachel was desperately waiting outside. Once out of the car, Felicity took Rachel in her arms and made a run for it. She ran up the way Ravager came from. But she took a detour. She decided to run into the trees where they would be hidden by shadows and not be seen. She couldn't go up the same road with those psychos following them.

Felicity kicked off her heels far enough into the bushes to divert her pursuers before running the opposite way. It was dark. She could barely see a thing, even if she would have her glasses on. She knew she could trip and fall with anything in front of her and could step on sharp rocks and twigs while being on her bare feet. But she needed to get away from them. She needed to keep Rachel safe from those psychos. If they were pissed off now, imagine how they would behave when they find out that it was Rachel who made the car go out of control. Felicity didn't know how she did it but she knew it was her. She couldn't deny it any longer.

Twigs and stones were hurting the soles of her feet and possibly making her bleed but she kept on running.

The running didn't last too long when Felicity tripped on a log and fell down to the ground with the child. It wasn't her fault though. The forest was too dark to see. It was worse than being in a horror movie. If it were a full moon, maybe Felicity could see better. But there was no moon tonight. It was a new moon. She had to put a hand on the back of Rachel's head to save her from the fall. She heard them coming. Gül and Ravager. They were out of the car and they were all but happy. They sounded pissed off. Felicity didn't know if they were pissed because of what happened at the bridge or because Ravager disobeyed her orders. Honestly, Felicity didn't care which. She just wanted to get herself and the child out of here. Rachel whimpered. _No. No. No. Rachel, don't scream. Don't scream_.

Felicity quickly scrambled to her feet and continued running until her eye caught the outline of a tree and hid behind, crouching down on its roots and holding the child to her tightly. Rachel almost whimpered again, only for Felicity to put a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet and shushed her. Tears ran down her cheeks and her hand became moist with Rachel's tears. She could hear their footsteps crunching and rustling. She could hear them yelling at each other angrily. _Don't find us, please. Don't find us, please -. What's that?_

She looked down at her wrist and then remembered the power suppresser around her wrist. The red light with loud beeping. _Oh no_. In an instant, Gül was standing in front of them, aiming the gun and blood trickling down her temple. "I forgot to tell you, that thing has a tracker." Rachel squealed in terror. Gül was pointing the gun at Rachel.

"No!" Felicity quickly threw herself in front of Rachel and got shot on the back of the shoulder. She cried out in pain and Rachel screamed. How ironic that it was the same shoulder William Tockman shot her. "No, don't shoot her, please!"

"It was her. We all saw what she did. Get out of the way!"

"No!" Felicity cried out, "If you kill her, you'll have to kill me too!"

"Why do you care!? She's not even yours!"

"Yes, she is!" Felicity screamed, "She's _my_ kid! She's _my_ daughter!"

Rachel continued to cry profusely, hiccupping and tearing. Her nose was even beginning to bleed. "Mama!" she wailed. "Mama!"

"Please, just leave us alone!" Felicity begged, "You got what you wanted. So please, don't hurt her."

Gül looked down at the wailing child in the blonde's arms and then back at Felicity. How she was willing to sacrifice her own life to save a child that wasn't even hers. A self-less thing. The gun in her hands shook slightly from suppressed rage. Then she lowered the gun. "You're lucky. I'm not wasting my bullets on you yet," she said. She pulled out something that looked like a remote control. When she pressed one of the buttons, the metal bracelet around Felicity's wrist came off and fell to the ground with a thud. "Next time, you won't be so lucky."

Thunder clap could be heard from above which was bit odd for Felicity. There were no reports of a thunderstorm tonight. But then it came. A flash of lightning ran across them and instantly, she and Rachel were gone, leaving Gül completely dumbfounded and confused. "What the fuck was that?"

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" Slade continued pacing around the lab impatiently.

"Barry is still getting used to his ability," Cisco said. Watching Slade walking around like that, already about to explode, made him feel anxious. "We're still testing how fast he can run."

"Then why would you let him go if you _knew_ that he had limits, Cisco," Slade nearly snapped at him. Cisco was taken aback by that comment and looked down at his feet. Slade knew that he shouldn't have snapped like that. Cisco was only trying to help and the last thing he should be doing was snap at him. Slade immediately apologized. "Sorry."

"That's okay. You're stressed. Just trust me, okay? Barry is fast and he'll bring them back," Cisco assured him.

"You better hope so, kid. I'm already at the brink of ripping someone's head off," Slade sighed.

"Not me, right? Slade?" Cisco said. But Slade didn't answer and just walked away.

"So," Oliver then spoke up, "How did Barry ended up...like that?"

"Well, it's a funny story. I think Felicity already told you that he got struck by lightning," Cisco answered, "The lightning storm was cause by the particle accelerator that we built. It malfunctioned and caused a large shockwave throughout the entire Central City."

Oliver did remember Felicity telling him that. Barry Allen got struck by lightning and ended up in a coma. He actually felt bad for him. But he didn't expect for something like this to happen as well as he didn't expect Felicity receiving sonic screams which made him wonder why she couldn't use that to get out of the situation. What happened there?

"Cisco, did the shockwave really hit the entire Central City? Just the city?" Oliver asked.

"That and five miles outside the city," Cisco said. "Anyone that's in the city or five miles away from the city could have been affected by the particle accelerator. Why?"

"It's just a theory," Oliver said, "Colton, Felicity's father, was in Starling City and let's just say he arrived weeks after the explosion of the particle accelerator. Where was he before that?"

That's when Cisco's eyes widened. He finally knew where Oliver was going with this. "Are you saying that Colton could have been in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded and that he was affected by the shockwave?"

"That would explain why he has that ability to invade people's heads and make their dreams into their personal nightmares," Diggle said.

"Again, it's just a theory," Oliver said.

"A very affective theory, Mr. Queen," Dr. Wells said, "We might need to do a bit of research. Cisco, you'll have to find the list of patients that were hospitalized at the St. Andrews Hospital. Find out if there's a man with the name Colton Smoak that checked in weeks ago."

"It might take a while but I'll give it a whirl, right after the girls are found," Cisco said.

Just as he said that, papers were flying and Barry was already in the middle of the room with the girls. Everyone was relieved that they were still alive and well, especially Slade who was the most worried and was ready to blow a gasket any second.

"She needs help. Please." Felicity cried out. Slade looked at Rachel in her arms. Rachel was pale as death, blood was trickling down her nose and she trembling and twitching.

"What happened to her?" Diggle asked, "Did they hurt her?"

"She's in shock," Barry explained, "We'll take her to the medical bay."

Cisco walked up to Felicity and took the child from her arms to his. "I got her. She'll be fine."

Barry and Cisco took Rachel to the medical bay. Slade walked up to Felicity and embraced her in his arms. Felicity wasn't in the best shape of her life. She lost her glasses, her dress was dirty, her limbs were covered in cuts, her lips was busted, her hair was a mess and she had a bullet hole on the back of her shoulder. When Slade embraced her, she hissed and cried out in pain.

Slade noticed this and ripped off a piece of her clothing to take a better look at the wound. His face went red in anger and worry. "They shot you?" he asked, holding Felicity's face in his hands.

"I'm fine," Felicity tried convincing but even she couldn't fool herself. She was sobbing profusely.

"Dr. Snow, take Felicity to the medical bay too. She needs stitches," Dr. Wells instructed.

Caitlin did as told and took Felicity to the medical bay. Slade didn't want to let go of her but he had to. Felicity was in too much pain. He let her be taken to the medical bay. And he sat back down on the chair. He took deep breaths to calm himself down and was forced to fight the urge to take Oliver's car and drive back to Central City to search for those psychopath that kidnapped them in the first place.

Oliver sat down next to Slade with his shoulders slouched and a glum look on his face. "They're alive, Slade. That's most important."

"I want to find those sons of bitches and make them pay," Slade muttered viciously, "But I can't. I have already made a promise. If I back down on a promise, the girls are the ones that will be paying the consequences, not me. Whoever Gül is, she's smart. She knows what she's doing."

"We'll find them and we'll find out what she wants from you," Oliver kept assuring him. He then immediately changed the subject, "Listen, about what we were talking about back at the Clock Tower -."

"Drop it," Slade said. "I don't want to hear anymore of this apology crap. Shado is dead. What's done is done. You are not forgiven, Oliver Queen. But as of now, we're calling this a truce. For now."

That _for now_ was a bit concerning for Oliver. How long would that for now last? Until Slade found another reason to hate him? He really didn't want to find out at the moment.

The man named Dick Grayson, who was apparently Cisco's friend, returned after being asked to bring information on Gül and her companion. "We found them," Oliver said. "Barry brought them to S.T.A.R. Labs. Felicity is having her shoulder stitched up while Rachel is in shock."

"That's good, isn't it?" Dick said.

"What? That the kid is in shock?" Diggle asked.

"No, that the girls are safe. I'm not that insensitive. What the hell?" Dick said, frowning at Diggle and shrugging his shoulder, "Anyways, I have something you guys might want to take a look at. It's on Gül and her companion. I had another friend of mine forward the information to me."

Dick had a folder in his arms full of papers and placed them on the desk. Slade smirked as he thought it would be a funny idea to expose Dick Grayson's identity to Oliver and Diggle as well as exposing the identity of the Bat. But he brushed it off and took the folder in his hands. He flipped through the pages where he saw photographs of the woman from the court. One pictured showed her walking around a crowded area with polished floor; she was wearing black trench coat and a pair of sunglasses while dragging a silver suitcase behind her. Her companion, a male of her age, followed behind her and was also wearing sunglasses. It looked like they didn't want to be seen by the security cameras. There was also a photo of her walking out of court in a hoodie while the firecrackers were exploding and causing chaos.

"Her name is Gül Değer. She's Turkish. She's from Istambul City," Dick explained, "A highly trained assassin and very dangerous. She was trained by the Great Ten in the Republic of China, a team of Chinese mercenaries. She was trained and trained well. She's highly skilled, very sly and very slippery."

"Define slippery," Diggle asked.

"A lot of vigilantes out there have been trying to catch her for a long time right now. She's been spreading chaos everywhere and killed dozens of people when she arrived at the U.S., along with her partner Ravager. Gül is the brains while Ravager is the muscle. They killed a few people that were mostly curropt government officials but they also killed the vigilantes that tried to stop. She almost sliced my head and Ravager stabbed my girlfriend in the gut. She's lucky to be alive since Ravager twisted her insides."

"Holy shit," Oliver said in disbelief, "That means they're dangerous."

Dick nodded in agreement. "Very dangerous. I think Gül Değer is the most dangerous. She's more dangerous than her Ravager partner. Hell, I think she's more dangerous than Slade Wilson over here."

"What I want to know is why is she after _me_ ," Slade sneered while glaring at Dick, "What is that she wants with me?"

"I thought you would know," Dick shrugged, "Since you've already had a chat with her and she seems to know you."

"I've never met that girl in my entire life," Slade growled.

"Well, whoever she is, she surely made a number on you," Diggle commented.

"Is there anything we know about Gül that can help us?" Oliver asked.

"There is one thing," Dick continued, "Her mother was named Zambak Değer. She and Gül were once kidnapped. Zambak was raped and murdered. Gül was also raped and stabbed twelve times in the stomach and left for dead. Gül was only thirteen when it happened. She's eighteen now."

"Wow, how the heck did she survived 12 stab wound in the gut?" Diggle asked.

"Talia al Ghul found her. She took her back to Nanda Parbat where they healed her," Dick explained further, "But before Talia could consider training her to become a member of the League of Assassins, she ran away and wasn't heard from since, until now."

"How do you know all this?" Slade asked.

"I spoke to Talia myself. She told me. And then she started shooting me on the way out."

"Dude, what with you and almost getting killed by women?" Cisco asked as came out of the medical bay, "Is it some kind of fetish or do you just have a habit of pissing people off?"

"It's a gift." Dick said with a smirk.

"Oookay," Cisco drawled, "Anyhow, Rachel is fine. And Felicity's fine. Caitlin was able to remove the bullet from Felicity's shoulder. And we were able to snap Rachel out of the shock."

Slade sighed of relief. "Thank God. Can I see them?"

"Um, we put Rachel under sedation to calm her down and Felicity wants to be alone with her for the moment but maybe after an hour you can see her," Cisco said.

"Very well then," Slade reluctantly nodded in agreement. He couldn't stand not being near her right now but if Felicity wanted to be alone for the moment, he would have to cooperate with her request. Now they had two problems on their hands. Colton Smoak and now Gül Değer. Two problems. Both of them were lethal. Slade then returned his attention to Dick. "Gül may be swift but I'm still wondering how was she able to obtain passage to the U.S. or any other country for that matter? How was she able to do all this?"

"Well, turns out that both Gul and Ravager are working for a group called the Church of Blood, a group of cultists," Dick explained, "They offered them money anything they wanted in exchanged of their services as bodyguards or something. The Church of Blood is being led by someone named Sebastian Blood."

The name made Slade his heart stop. Sebastian Blood. The very man Slade was helping to run for mayor in Starling City. After everything Slade did for him, Sebastian dared to stab him in the back. If the Sebastian from this Church of Blood was the same one he was helping run for mayor, Slade was going to make him answer for his crimes. It was so clear but at the same time it wasn't. Yes, Gül and Ravager had the same Mirakuru serum in their veins and it would make a lot more sense if it was Sebastian that managed to provide them with it. But as far as Slade knew, Sebastian never recruited a girl named Gül from Istanbul or a boy named Ravager. There no female Mirakuru soldiers. The only one female was Isabel and she was dead. But the real problem was that Gül and Ravager didn't look like they worked for Sebastian or the Church of Blood. They looked like it was something personal. Perhaps the Church of Blood offered Slade's life in return of services.

"What about Ravager?" Slade asked.

Dick gritted his teeth and gave him an eerie look. "Um, you might want to take a look at the next picture. You might not like what you'll see."

Slade frowned skeptically but looked at the next photo. Just as Dick predicted, Slade did not like what he was seeing. His one eye widened when he recognized the Ravager's face. "...Grant."

"Um, Slade, who's Grant?" Cisco asked. Oliver was going to ask the same question as well but Cisco beat him to it. Who was Grant?

"...He's my son."

* * *

Felicity was sitting next to the hospital bed where Rachel laid. She held the child's small hand in hers and watched her stomach slowly rise and fall as she sleep. Rachel looked so pale that she would be mistaken for dead if not for the steam of her breath fogging up the respiratory mask she had on her face. Felicity was still tearing up. Caitlin had urged her to rest but Felicity insisted to be at Rachel's side until she woke up. Right now, Rachel was sleeping and Felicity was waiting for the moment for her to wake up.

She then heard a knock on the doorframe and she turned her head to see Slade standing there. He smiled softly at her and she smiled back.

"I know you wanted to be alone for a while but I just wanted to see if you were all right," he said as he entered the medical bay and sat next to her. Felicity sniffled and wiped off the tears from her face. Slade chuckled and handed her a tissue. "Your mascara is running."

"Ooh God, that's embarrassing," she sniffled and wiped off the runny mascara from her face. "Thanks."

Slade stared at the sleeping child sorrowfully. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's asleep. Dr. Wells said she'll recover the next morning. They'll make a few more test to see if she has any injuries and then they'll allow her to be taken home," Felicity said, "She was so scared, Slade. For a moment, I thought they were going to kill us."

"Believe me, love, I was petrified," Slade sighed, "I almost lost you two."

"I didn't think you'd care about her too," Felicity said.

"...Looking at her made me think of my own kids," Slade said, "How I could never make up lost time with them for the many years I've spent on Lian Yu. They already thought I was dead. And after everything I became, I preferred if they didn't know I was lost. I preferred if they thought I was dead."

"I'm worried right now. Why are you saying it in past tense?" Felicity asked with worry.

Slade sighed as he tried to prepare himself for what he was going to say to Felicity. "The man that works for the woman who kidnapped you and Rachel...he's my son. My oldest son, Grant Wilson."

Felicity looked at him in shock. Slade notice that her eyes were still bloodshot and teary. "Your son? Grant?"

"Yes."

"Does he know about you being alive -?"

"I'm 2,000% sure that he knows that I'm alive," Slade said, "He knows I'm here. He's here with that Gül girl. Both of them are angry with me. I don't know what the girl has against me but I'm pretty sure why my son wanted to join her. I think he believes I've abandoned him and his brother Joe."

"How did you find out it was Grant?" Felicity asked.

"Cisco's friend, Dick Grayson, showed me a few photographs of hacked security cameras plus a mugshot of my son. It seems that Grant was busy getting himself into trouble while I was gone. Skipping school. 40 fights that got him arrested. Vandalism. Sexual harassment. Robbery. And murder. It seems that I really left a mark on him since I 'died'."

"I'm so sorry, Slade," Felicity said.

"Don't be." Slade took off his coat and draped it over Felicity to keep her warm since she was cold as ice. "Nothing of my actions is your fault or hers." He was referring to Rachel. "We have other worries to attend to."

"You're going to do what that woman said, right? You're going to meet with her? Slade, what if she kills you? It's a trap," Felicity said.

"I know that it's a trap. But I rather not lose you. If I don't meet with her on Friday, she and Grant will try to hurt you two again and I am not willing to lose the people I love, not again." Felicity let out half a laugh. Slade stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"...It took you two psychopaths to make you say that you love me," she said.

"...And I do," he said. Felicity leaned forward and kissed him.

"In that case, I love you too," she whispered.

"You're coming to live with me when we return to Starling City," Slade said.

"What? Why?"

Did he really need to spell it out for her? "Felicity, you and Rachel almost got killed tonight," Slade explained with seriousness in his tone. "Next time, there's no telling if you'll die or not. Sebastian Blood is a suspect now. We believe he's responsible for your kidnapping. I'm not willing to risk it. Plus I've already discussed it with Oliver. He agreed that the two of you should live with me for now on."

"You and Oliver finally agreed on something? That's a little bit scary."

"It doesn't matter. You're coming to live with me once we get back to Starling City and that's final. Do you understand me?"

Felicity was about to protest but put a lot of thought to it. As much as she hated being told what to do, Slade was right. She and Rachel were in more danger than ever now. They almost got killed by two psychopaths, one of them being Slade's oldest son. She couldn't go back to her apartment with the thought of those two breaking in and attacking them again. It was dangerous for Rachel too. Gül tried to shoot the child. Luckily Felicity was able to block the shooting with her body just as she did before when Tockman almost shot Sara. But they were still in danger no matter what she did. The cry she tried to use on Guul at the Clock Tower only worked for a short while before Grant shot her and Rachel with the tranquilizer gun. Rachel nearly fell into a coma. They were nearly drove off the bridge. It was settled. Felicity didn't have a choice. Slade was right.

"Yes. Yes, I'll move in with you," she agreed.

"Good," he said and kissed her on the head.

Felicity looked over at Rachel again and brushed part of the dark hair from the child's face. "I'm scared for her, Slade," she said, "You should have seen what happened."

"I didn't need to see it to know what happened," he said.

"Oh, but you're wrong there. You had to see it to believe it," she said and Slade frowned again. "The car was about to go over the edge. Rachel woke up and when she saw what was happening, she screamed. When she screamed, the car changed its course and it began to spin out of control. Gul and I thought it was Ravager trying to mess with us. But he kept telling her over and over again that it wasn't her. Then the car flipped back and crashed on its own."

"Felicity, you really don't think that -."

"I know what I saw, Slade. Rachel flipped the car. She caused it to crash so we wouldn't fall into the river. She did it on her own without lifting a finger. I don't know how but she did. And I'm scared, for her. Rachel fell into shock afterwards, and I don't think it was from fear. What if she tries something like this again and hurts herself? I don't want her to get hurt. What's worse is that I don't know how to help her if I have no idea what's happening. What's happening to her, Slade. What have they done to her to be like this?"

Felicity was crying again and Slade held her again. "I don't have the answer to that, love," he said and kissed her again, "But don't worry. She's safe with us. As long as she has you, she's safe."

After a while of crying, she was now smiling. "What are you smiling about?"

"Slade...she called me _mom_."

Without them knowing, Dick was watching them from outside the whole time. He watched Rachel in the medical bed and his blue eyes widened when he recognized the child's face. _Uh-oh. Bats is not going to like this one bit_.

* * *

 ** _Two years ago..._**

 _A man in a black and grey batsuit and young man in black and blue were entering an alley of Gotham City after receiving a distress call from Commissioner James Gordon. The Commissioner received an anonymous 9-1-1- call. The caller mentioned that they heard someone screaming in the alleyway. As usual, the Commissioner gave the address to the Dark Knight himself and asked to investigate it. The Bat and Nightwing took the investigation full-heartedly._

 _It was a rainy night in Gotham. It was 3 o' clock in the morning, the witching hour._

 _The Bat and Nightwing slowly approached the alleyway the Commissioner indicated them. It was dark, so the Bat had to use a flashlight to see better. When he turned on the flashlight, Nightwing cursed and nearly threw up at the sight of a dead woman lying on the ground, her throat slashed and her body lying in a pool of blood mixed with rain water. The woman's face was pale and her eyes were glassy and lifeless. Her body was shrouded by a dark cloak. The woman was dead for hours. Who was she? Where did she come from?_

 _"Holy shit, that's bad, Batman," Nightwing said._

 _"I've seen worse but you're right," he said gruffly._

 _They then heard whimpering nearby. The whimpering of a child. Batman flashed around the light to find the source of the whimpering. When he briefly flashed the light to the dumpster, they heard loud angry growl. It made Nightwing jump. First it was the whimper of a child and now it was an animal growl. "What the literal fuck was that?" he asked._

 _Batman flashed the light towards the dumpster again where he watched two garbage bags move as if someone (or something) were hiding behind it._

 _"What is that?" Nightwing asked as he slowly approached the garbage bags._

 _"Careful, Nightwing," Batman warned._

 _Nightwing crouched in front of the garbage bags and slowly pushed them aside. When he did so, what he saw was going to be buried in his memory for a long time._

 _A child. A little girl no older than four years of age. She was curled up against the dumpster, completely soaked from the rain, her eyes completely black and her hands and dress covered in blood. She growled viciously at Nightwing as she backed up against the cold metal wall of the dumpster even more. She was growling at him in warning._

 _"Nightwing, careful," Batman warned him._

 _"It's okay," Nightwing spoke to the child as he raised his hands up to show her he meant no harm. "I'm not hear to hurt you. We just heard screaming and we thought someone was hurt. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"_

 _The growling lessened and the blackness in the child's eyes slowly ceased until they were blue. She looked around in confusion until her eyes found the body of the dead woman. "Mama?" she whimpered. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran towards the body. "Mama!" she cried. Nightwing quickly grabbed her and held her back since no one was allowed to touch the body except for the police._

 _The child cried and screamed as she violent struggled to get out of Nightwing's grip but eventually gave up and sobbed in his arms._

 _The police arrive and took the body away. They even took the child to the police station to have her investigated. To investigate the blood on her hands. The police believed that the child killed her mother in the alleyway but the child kept claiming that she didn't know what happened to her. Then an investigator was declaring her insane, a possible split-personality disorder at a young age. Of course, Batman wasn't satisfied with their investigation and decided to do it himself. Batman had Nightwing take the child to an orphanage far away from Gotham City. Nightwing took her to an orphanage in Starling City but had a little chat with her before he left._

 _"So, after all that, I still never got your name," he said, "or where you're from. So...what's your name?"_

 _The child did not respond. She had not spoken to anyone since they found her. They interrogated her but only responded with a simple **yes** and **no**. As Nightwing was about to leave her with the caretaker, the child finally responded. "My name is Rachel Roth," She said meekly. "My mother's name was Angela Roth. And I'm from Azarath."_

* * *

 **And that, my friends, is how one of our favourite Teen Titans character ended up in the Arrow Universe in the first place.**

 **If no one guessed it yet... _Gül_ means _Rose_ in Turkish. **

**I know that Colton Smoak is the real threat at the moment but I just wanted you guys to see that Colton is not the only villain out there the Arrow team should be worried about. There are villains out there just as bad as Colton or worse. And more villains will pop up in further chapters.**

 **I'm also a few chapters away from finishing _Black Smoak_. So prepare yourself for more of them before this story ends. **

**Review down below and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	33. Chapter 33: Bloodline Rising (Part 2)

Chapter 33: Bloodline Rising (Part 2)

 **Cansu Dere as Gül Deger/R*** W*******

 **Jamie Cutler as Grant Wilson/Ravager**

* * *

 **ME: I'm giving thanks to all of my followers for supporting my story. I love you guys so much. You guys are the best. I'm here to say something a bit of the new comers before getting to the story. Gül is a one of my newest addition to the Arrow fanfiction universe and she's an enigma. If you all know who she is already, then that's okay. But she's definitely an enigma to Slade. He doesn't know who she is. He has never seen her before. All he knows is that she is pissed as hell with him and will do anything to get his attention before killing him. Slade already knows Grant's motivation of joining Gül. He's obviously pissed off with Slade as well for a very obvious reasons, if you know what I mean. But Gül is a mystery to Slade. And Slade is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants, what her motivation is and how far she would go to get what she wants. Slade is going to question Sebastian Blood in this chapter. He wants find out if he's involved with the kidnapping of Felicity and Rachel and doesn't care if he has to beat the answers out of him. In this chapter, we'll be learning more about Sebastian's origin in the Church of Blood and why he never spoke much of the cult at the same time Rachel's origin will be indirectly shown once more. Felicity will also be facing self-doubt in this chapter. She's going to think to herself if she's fit to be Black Canary or not; after what happened in the last chapter, she's going to learn that wearing a costume and being a metahuman does not make her Black Canary so she has a long way to go before she's ready to kick ass.**

 **So, here's the next chapter to _Black Smoak_. I hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

Slade entered the computer lab to find Cisco working on his computer, trying find information on Gül Deger and Grant Wilson. Finding out that Ravager was actually Slade's son Grant Wilson took everyone by surprise, including Cisco. Even Oliver was surprised. Oliver thought Slade only had _one_ son, not two. He only mentioned Joseph. He didn't say anything about an older son named Grant.

Slade noticed the boy's head dipping forward. He was already about to fall asleep over the computer since he's been hours on the computers ever since they saved Felicity and Rachel from Gül and Ravager. Slade stepped down into the lab and approached Cisco.

"You should be resting, Cisco," Slade said. He took a chair and sat next to the kid. Cisco yawned and straightened his back. Slade could hear the bones of his spine pop. "You're working too hard. Leave it be."

"You," he yawned again, "told me to find out everything I can about Gül. Aside from the tragic soap opera background history Dick gave me, I have nothing on her. No more background. No other history. There's no birth certificate to indicate who the father is nor do we know if she has any other relatives. She doesn't used credit cards to pay for her stuff and the security cameras in the city can't seem to pick her up anywhere. It's like she just vanished."

"She's smart," Slade mused, "She knows we're looking for her. She's not going to let us find her unless she wants us to."

"At least I found something on Grant," Cisco said. The mention of his son made Slade almost cringe.

"What is it?"

"Well, it seems that Grant has a long history of crimes like theft, vandalism, sexual harassment and murder since the age of 11, I think," Cisco informed him, "The doctors and the police described him as heavily dangerous and mentally unstable. Looks like he and Gül have something in common. They're both wackjobs. No offense."

"None taken." Grant had turned into what Slade feared most. Grant was turning into Slade's brother Wade.

"Can I ask you a question, Slade?"

"The one you asked right now doesn't count?" Slade teased with a smirk. "It's a joke, Cisco. Ask if you wish."

"Um, why didn't you mention that you had a son named Grant?" Cisco asked. Slade sighed. Cisco was not the first person to ask about Grant. After mentioning Ravager being Slade's son Grant, people were making a lot of questions, especially Oliver who only knew about Joey but didn't know anything about Slade having another son. Oliver was pretty much ticked about it, how Slade never bothered to mention him about Grant.

"As I've said to Oliver earlier, it's not much of his business as it is mine," he said.

"Well, it _is_ our business if we're going to catch him and the femme-fatale," Cisco reminded. Slade didn't think of actually wanting to catch Grant. He only thought about catching Gül…and Colton. To him, those two are unrelated cases but they were still a threat. But the thought of trying to catch his own son and stop him from doing any more damage than he had already done so far was uneasy for him.

"The reason I didn't mention Grant to Oliver is that I haven't heard much of him for a while," Slade explained. "Plus there wasn't much to talk about him."

"What happened?" Cisco asked.

"Grant ran away from home when he was fourteen and I haven't heard from him since," he continued with his explanation. "You see, Cisco, my son Grant wasn't the kind of son a few parents raise well. Let's say, your parents are a bunch of douche-bags and yet you turned out to be all right…mostly." Cisco frowned at him when he said that. "I'm still questioning your mentality, kid," he chuckled and then returned to the subject. "But in my case, Adeline and I tried our best to raise Grant right and —."

"And yet he grew up to be a total dick," Cisco finished for him.

"I wouldn't put it so bluntly but yes," Slade nodded in agreement. He was saying this with disappointment in his tone. "He was jealous of his brother Joey."

"Is it favouritism?" Cisco asked glumly, "Because if that's the case, I can relate to that. My parents also liked my brother Dante more than me. It's because I chose science over music that they caste me aside."

"This has nothing to do with favouritism, Cisco, it has to do with whom needed the help most," Slade said, "Joey was born deaf-mute. Adeline and I struggled to communicate with him. He was learning sign-language and I still had trouble understanding him. But I've been struggling trying to help Joe that I lost sight of my other son who also needed me."

"I'm guessing it began with bullying," Cisco said. Cisco could relate to that as well. He was the kind of kid in high school big jocks would try to dump inside a trash can for his race and for being a nerd. Cisco would sometimes be chased all over the neighbourhood by the bigger kids on bikes.

"Indeed. We've both made mistakes. One of the mistakes Grant made is neglect to tell us of his situation while my mistake was not paying attention to what was happening to him. Then he started smoking dope at eleven."

"Eleven? Don't you think that's a bit too young for him to start smoking?" Cisco asked.

"You don't know anything, do you? I've seen children smoke at age four," Slade said seriously. Cisco took a pencil and started chewing it. "Explain to me why you are chewing a pencil and are you listening to everything I'm saying."

"I am listening to you, really. I just don't like sitting still on a chair for so long so I chew on a pencil to keep me distracted," Cisco said. "I was diagnosed with high-functioning autism so you're going to see a lot of this for now on if you're helping us out."

That would explain his fixation on certain topics such as nicknaming the heroes and villains, his obsession with movies and TV shows and his strange habits such as chewing on a pencil like he was doing right now. He was also seen twirling his hair a lot and standing up from the chair every now and then. Slade had already counted the many times Cisco stood up from the chair. 52. Slade never noticed it until now. It made a lot of sense now. What surprised Slade was that Cisco was not ashamed of admitting it. He just said casually just like that. Slade heard a lot of people that deny it. But Cisco wasn't afraid of just blurting it out to him.

Slade was impressed but he returned to the subject. "Anyways, Grant never really understand much about Joey's condition and became very hostile with him to a point he was always bothering him. I had to stop him every time and Grant would accuse us of loving Joey more than him."

"But you loved them both, right?"

"Of course I did. But Grant didn't understand that. He got detention for beating up other kids. He was also arrested for robbery and vandalism. I knew that he was doing this to get our attention. I've made my own mistakes and tried to make up for it. But never did I think things would go this way. The night he ran away, he came home drunk and attacked Joey. Adeline tried to stop him but he punched her in the face."

"What did you do then?"

"I beat him. I beat him black and blue and sent him to his room. The next morning he was gone," Slade said. He lamented letting Grant run away.

"Did you report him missing?" Cisco asked.

"I did," Slade answered glumly, "They never found him. Adeline and I searched high and low for him but he never appeared. I haven't seen him since."

"But now he's back and he's out to get you along with Miss Ice Witch," Cisco said, "I get why Grant is after but I still don't get why this girl Gül is after you. What does she have against you?"

"That's what I want to find out, Cisco," Slade said, "Before they drove away from the Clock Tower, I notice the gun Gül had in her hands. It's an ASIS gun. They're using military equipment from my own unit. Grant is learning what I've learned and is using it against me with the help of that woman. But what strikes me odd is that the girl has more interest than Grant does. Grant is just following her around like a lapdog, helping her and doing everything she says. It's a hell of my own making, Cisco. The worst part is that I don't know where they are or what they're next move is. The only thing I _do_ know that they want my head."

"Yeah, on a silver platter Hannibal Lecter style," Cisco said. Slade frowned at him in confusion, "Hannibal Lecter. _Silence of the Lambs_. 1991. Anthony Hopkins. One of the most famous serial killer movies. There's even a TV series — Oh just forget it. You really need to catch up with the movies because I give up."

Slade simply chuckled. "I was joking, Cisco. I know what _Silence of the Lambs_ is. I haven't been on the island for _that_ long. Of course, I was not aware they've made a show about it."

"It awesome. You should watch it…On second thought, don't watch it or else, you'll be getting different ideas of how to kill people and we already have a lot of serial killers on our hands right now."

"I've already killed before, Cisco. So don't expect anything more or less from me," he warned. He remained silent for a moment, his one eye staring at the folder where the pictures were.

"What are you thinking?" Cisco asked.

"Grant has just become what I feared most," Slade sighed, "He's turned into my brother."

"You have a brother?" Cisco asked in surprise.

"Had a brother. Past tense," Slade corrected him, "He was my half-brother. His mother was my father's mistress. I never knew the mother's name and neither did he since she gave my brother to us and disappeared."

"What was his name?"

"His name was Wade DeFarge. My mother never really liked him. She always scolded him. She used to refer to him as the bastard. My father hated Wade; he considered him as a pest. Of course, my father considered both of us as pests. I was the only one that loved and tolerated his presence. He used to have a very harsh attitude and yet I was always patient with him. I was the young lad with an innocent and naive mind, seeing the good in everyone. My mother was diagnosed with cancer. My father would come home drunk to beat us around, mostly my brother. Wade cared less for my mother's death. My father didn't even go to the funeral. I was the one who grieved most." Remembering all the pain he suffered in his childhood was like being repeatedly stabbed in the chest with his own blade. It felt worse than being stabbed in the eye with an arrow. He didn't like talking about but he preferred to get it out of his chest. "After my mother died, Wade and I ran away from home for we feared we would be enslaved in a life of alcoholism and beatings. I thought we would be find a better life than what we had at home. I was wrong. My brother got into the habit of robbing, vandalizing, drinking and drugging, and I forced myself into following along. Again, I fell for his antics like a fool. Things turned for the worst when Wade killed an old man in an alleyway."

Cisco stared at Slade wide-eyed. "Your brother actually killed someone?"

Slade nodded. "Yes. It was the first I have ever seen him murder someone and it was all because he wanted to steal a damn wallet. He stole the money and wanted me to get rid of the money to where no one would find it."

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Instead of getting rid of it, I returned the wallet to his home where I met Adeline Kane," Slade explained. "...She was my wife."

"I didn't know you were married."

"I was married. She and I divorced after Grant disappeared. We couldn't stop arguing no matter what we did and we decided to take some time apart," he said. "Adeline Kane was Russian. Well, half-Russian. She told me her father was British. The old man Wade killed was her grandfather Abraham Kane. She suspected that I had something to do with her grandfather's death. It took some time before I finally told her the truth. My brother killed her grandfather. It became the last straw when Wade raped and murdered a young girl in the alley. Adeline agreed to help me find the body of the girl. We planned on taking it to the police station and tell on my brother. It was for the best. Wade was causing too much trouble."

"So your brother raped and killed a girl? Don't you think the last straw should have been when he killed Abraham Kane?" Cisco asked.

"It should have been but I was too stupid to do anything," Slade nearly growled. "He manipulated me, claiming that if I told the police, they would take us back to our father. The truth is that our father died three years after we ran way. He fell drunk down the stairs and broke his neck. He lied to me."

"And you didn't know this until...?"

"I only knew of my father's death after Wade died," he said.

"And how did Wade die?" Cisco asked. He was like a child in kindergarten asking non-stop. But Slade would answer all the same.

"I shot him," he said bluntly. Cisco's eyes grew wider. "Wade and I dumped the girl's body at a harbour where we thought it would be eaten by the fish. Adeline and I went to the harbour to search for it. Unfortunately, there was a storm. The dock broke beneath us and we fell into the water. It was pitch black down there so I couldn't see what happened. I woke up at shore. Then I found Adeline. She wasn't breathing so I performed CPR on her. That was the moment I realized she was my first kiss."

"Bad timing for you first kiss, I'm guessing," Cisco said.

"She was alive, thank God," Slade sighed, "After that, we continued to search the body until we found it rotting and bloated beneath one of the docks, covered in barnacles and with a crab in the mouth. I never saw a rotting corpse before until that day."

"What was your reacting?"

"I threw up," Slade said sincerely. "Trust me, when you're kid who has never seen a dead body before, you are most likely to throw up. After we found the body, we were going to find a net to drag it back to the police station. That's when Wade found us. And he was pissed off at me for telling on him."

"But you didn't tell the police. You only told Adeline."

Slade simply chuckled. He knew that Cisco was too innocent and naive to know such things. No, Cisco was not naive. He was a genius. If only he were there to know what was like, Slade having to kill his own brother to save the woman he married and then divorced. If Slade hadn't killed Wade, he wouldn't have the life he had now and he wouldn't have had his two sons Joseph and Grant. He didn't think it was worth it when he ended up stranded on the island in Lian Yu with William's brother (and Joey's godfather), Billy Wintergreen. He thought he and Bill would make it out of the island together, only to be stabbed in the back by him to join Fryers. Then Oliver came. He became friends, almost like brothers, until Shado showed up. He then became enemies with Oliver after Shado's death and tried to kill Oliver and everyone he loved. And then he met Felicity and things turned around after that.

Did he regret killing his brother? No. He didn't regret killing his brother. One thing's for sure, he wouldn't recommend for Cisco (or anyone) to do the same thing."Adeline and I agreed that we were going to tell the police. Wade somehow found out I betrayed him. He followed me and Adeline to the harbour. He planned on killing Adeline to get rid of witnesses."

"And you?"

"If I didn't do as he said, he would kill me too," Slade said, "Wade already had Adeline at gunpoint. What Adeline didn't tell me was that her grandfather was an ex-marine. She elbowed my brother in the gut and knocked the gun out of his hand. Me? I grabbed the gun and shot him."

"You two were badasses even back then," Cisco smile but Slade shook his head in denial.

"No. Not back then I wasn't. I was a coward. I was too afraid to kill my brother, because he was my blood. But I did what I had to do to stop him. He was going to stab Adeline in the neck with a broken bottle when I shot him. I shot him in the head. I loved my brother but at that moment, he wasn't my brother. He was a monster. And I'm afraid Grant is turning into a monster as well, just like my brother and me. And this Gül girl is making it worse."

Cisco frowned at him. "But you're not a monster, Slade. You're just...lost."

"Everyone gets lost, Cisco and then they are found. Felicity was only able to find part of me. But I'm struggling to find what's left in me. Felicity is also lost. She doesn't even know _who_ or _what_ she is."

"What about me? Am I lost too?" Cisco asked warily.

Slade shrugged at his question. "You tell me. I'm not a psychic. Are you lost? Everyone is lost in something. You're probably lost as well."

Cisco didn't answer and instead looked through the folders where the pictures of Grant Wilson and Gül Deger were. He took those two pictures and rolled his chair over to a board attached to the wall where he pins the pictures. Slade noticed there was a mugshot of Colton Smoak pinned on the board as well. "Here are more villains in To Catch list. So far, Colton is still number one on the list. Oh hey, while you and the guys are still here, why don't you and Felicity join me on a dinner with my family tomorrow this afternoon? My parents invited me for dinner. Well, actually, Dante invited me for dinner."

"Forgive me, Cisco but Felicity and I are returning to Starling City tomorrow in the morning," Slade said apologetically. "She and Rachel have already been through a lot and I think it's best for them to be home and rest. They're going to live with me at the Merlyn Mansion."

"Really? Wow. So, you two really tied the knot, right?"

"I wouldn't put it so bluntly but yes."

"Cool. It's too bad that you guys can't come. I don't like being alone. But I'm glad you two are working it out. What about Rachel?"

"Since Felicity is trying to be a mother to Rachel, I'll try to be a father to her as well," Slade said, "It seems that Rachel not only needs a mother-figure but a father-figure as well."

 **(*disk scratching* For every Teen Titans TV fan out there, does this part of the conversation just feel ironic to you somehow?)**

"That's good, right? You trying to make up lost time you didn't get to have with your kids by helping Felicity raise Rachel. I think that's good progress."

Not to mention that he was hanging around a smart talkative kid. But Slade didn't say anything. He chuckled in amusement. He could tell Cisco was getting a bit jealous. Of course, it was just mutual. "The progress won't do any good though if Colton is still out there as well as Grant and Gül. My top priority is catching Colton."

"I think it's everyone's priority," Cisco said and placed at a hand on Slade's shoulder to assured him. "We'll find him, Slade. We're going to catch Colton. After that, we're going to find Grant and Gül. What's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

"You need another drink, sweetheart?" the bartender asked the pretty lady sitting at the end of the bar, a young girl in a black dress with one strap over her left shoulder, her dark eyes surrounding smudged eyeliner and eyeshadow, her lips coated in red and her hair curling down her shoulders. The bartender smiled at her. She gave him a bitter look in return.

"Do you have any absinthe?" she asked. The question caught the bartender by surprise.

"Absinthe? That's a very strong drink, Miss. Are you sure you don't want a whiskey or vodka?"

"Exactly. I need something stronger," the girl mumbled, "I just had ten shots of vodka and I feel nothing. I don't even feel sober. Do you have absinthe or not?"

"Y-yes. We have a fresh bottle of Green Devil," the bartender said.

"Then, why are you still standing here?" the girl nearly snarled out the question. The bartender seemed startled by the girl's behaviour and looked like she was about to cut him in half if he didn't do as told. The bartender grabbed the bottle of Green Devil and served it in a glass to her. He was about to leave but the girl halted him. "Uh-uh, leave the bottle." The bartender left the bottle and hurriedly returned to work.

The girl smirked at the glass in front of her and quickly drank the green liquid in one swallow. The liquid burned down her throat and she shook her head sideways. The absinthe didn't do much to her but at least she was already beginning to feel sober. _That's better_ , she thought.

"I hope you're not planning on drinking yourself to death, Gül," her companion Grant approached her and sat down next to her.

"Face it, Grant, it doesn't matter how many bottles of vodka or whiskey you drink, the Mirakuru will never let you get drunk," she said as she poured herself another shot of absinthe and drank. Grant took the bottle in his hand and poured it in one of the empty shots Gül drank from. "And that's not going to help either. The only thing absinthe going to get you is sober, not drunk."

"Didn't the boss tell us to stay low?" Grant asked before drinking his shot of green liquid.

"He said stay low, not get bored to death," she said bitterly, "I needed a break _and_ a drink, and especially after that stunt you pulled at the bridge."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault we crashed the car," Grant snarled at her viciously, "We wouldn't have to go through that if you'd just let me kill that whore and her little brat."

"Felicity Smoak and Rachel Roth are not our targets, Grant," she reminded him, "I asked you to obey an order but you didn't follow orders and because of that, you almost got us killed. So don't blame me for your stupidity."

"And you pointed a fucking gun at my head," Grant growled as he poured himself another drink.

"I wouldn't have pointed a gun at your moronic head if you had just stopped the car like I told you to," Gül snarled back, "Felicity Smoak and Rachel Roth were simply baits for the real target. The next time this happens, I'm shooting your brains out. I mean it this time, Grant."

"Yeah, whatever," Grant chugged down on his drink and let out a huge exhale, "As long as we get to kill Slade, I'll do everything in order."

"Then stick to the plan," she hissed darkly, "Remember, if Felicity or the kid dies, it's going to give Slade another reason to come after us. We want Slade in his place. We won't be able to do that if his bitch is dead. We do exactly as planned and we'll have Slade's head as promised."

"I don't want his head," Grant shook his head, "I want his heart and every organ he has in his body, and then put the bloody member he used to create me and my bastard brother and put it in a blender."

Gül nearly choked up when Grant said that. "Oh Lord, you are disgusting. I'm giving you pointers for the idea though."

They both chuckled before clanking their glasses together and gulping their drinks. Together they would take down Slade.

Grant then stood up from his chair. "I'm gonna go piss."

"I'm gonna hit the dance floor," she said as she hopped from her seat and began to walk through the crowd of people dancing. They were at Poison, the second-best nightclub in Starling City. They were told to lay low for a while after the stunt Grant pulled at the bridged. Of course, their boss didn't say anything about getting bored.

Gül was crammed between the group of teens and young adults dancing on the floor, the entire club being illuminated with flashes of green, pink and white, and the floor full of fog. Blaring music bounced off the walls of the clubs, making it very difficult to hear what people were saying, even with the Mirakuru enhancing her hearing. Women swayed their hips sideways and throwing their heads around. Some of them were high, possibly on Vertigo or heroin. Men danced with the women they came with although Gül could see they were simply being seduced. A trick to get them into bed. She could also see a couple making out in a corner. She hoped the man was wearing a condom or those two would be facing either HIV or pregnancy. She would find HIV to be worse.

She suddenly felt a pinch on her butt and she abruptly turned around to face a boy of her age smirking at her. Gül, on the other hand, glared at him. "Care to tell me what the fuck that was for?"

"No reason. You're just kind of cute."

"Usually men would complement on a woman's beauty by using words or offering them something, not touch whenever it pleases them," she said and took a sip of absinthe. Ever since she and Grant injected themselves with the Mirakuru, it gave her the urge to drink more since she couldn't get herself drunk and it gave Grant more stamina. But it was also making her short-tempered and right now, she was fighting the urge of breaking the glass into the boy's neck.

"Well, here in the U.S., this is how we men greet women," the boy lied and she knew it.

"I may not be an American, my good sir, but I'm not naïve," she said coolly. "In my country, men do not woo women the way you do."

"And how do they do it?"

Gül looked around for any place that wasn't crowded. She then spotted the door that led to an alley outside the club. She smirked deviously before looking back at the boy that disrespected her. "Come with me."

It only took a moment to drag the boy out the dark alley when he was already getting beaten up by Grant. Grant already saw what the boy did when he got out of the bathroom and Gül spotted him sneak out the door. Gül sat on top of the dumpster, smoking on a cigarette while watching Grant beat the boy to a pulp. Grant continued punching at the boy's face till it was completely bruised and bloody. He then started kicking at the abdomen. Gül smirked when she heard a rib crack and chuckled with smoke coming out between her teeth.

"How unkind of me not to introduce my partner when we walked in here," she said, tilting her head to the side, "This is Ravager. His real name is Grant Wilson and he's the son of a mercenary named Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. Deathstroke is an ex-soldier from ASIS."

"Um, Gül, would you care to share why you're telling this bastard about me?" Grant asked as he continued kicking at the boy's ribs until blood was being coughed out of his mouth.

"You know why," she said boringly as she sucked at the end of the cigarette again. She watched Grant grab the arm of the boy and stomped his booted foot onto it, the same hand that grabbed her ass earlier. She cringed when she heard the bone snap in half but smiled all the same when the boy screamed. Luckily the music inside the club was too loud for anyone to hear the screams.

"Stop! Stop, please!" the boy pleaded, "I was just kidding!"

"Hmm, no," she said. "You disrespected me. And I don't like being disrespected."

"Hey, Gül, how many women do you think he harassed and raped?" Grant chuckled out the question.

"I keep wondering the same thing," she said. "How many women did you fuck up? You know what? Scratch it, I don't want to know and I don't care."

"Why are you doing this?" the boy cried out. Grant chuckled and gave him another kick in the gut. Gül grinned and slowly slid off the dumpster like a cat.

"Do you have to ask?" Gül grinned. Grant took a step back and let her take charge. "Adam Wright. Is it? Also known as Adonis. Three year arrest for harassing a girl and attempt of rape but with evidence tampered and no real charge made. Yeah, I know who you are. I know who everyone in this nightclub is. I study more than my partner here."

"Hey," Grant glared at her but she paid no heed. She kicked the boy named Adam in the groin instead.

"Apologize, asshat," Gül demanded. When he didn't apologize, she kicked him in the gut again. "Apologize!"

"I'm sorry!" he cried out. Grant chuckled in amusement. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Aww. Did you hear that, Grant? He says he's sorry."

"Isn't it a bit too late to say sorry," Grant chuckled.

"You got that from a Justin Bieber song, did you? Gross," she mumbled. "I never liked his music or _him_ in general."

"Who the hell are you people?" the boy asked.

Gül smirked and crouched in front of him. She loved baiting her victims. She would get off it sometimes. She would mostly take down anyone that messed with her. She didn't like being disrespected and felt disrespected when the boy named Adam Wright grabbed her ass. She had already been dishonored and disrespected before. She wasn't going to let it happen again, not even here in Starling City.

"My name is Gül Değer. My mother was name Zambak Değer, one of the greatest assassins in Istanbul before she was dishonored and murdered," she said, "And I am here to take back my owner by killing the man who took it in the first place."

"Gül, why are you telling this d-bag about us?" Grant asked, "We'll have to kill him now. He'll tell the police."

Gül did not answer. She quickly punched through the boy's chest. "I know." Gül glared deeply into the boy's wide eyes. "We're done talking." With that, she tore out the boy's heart, her hand covered in dripping red blood. The boy dropped dead to the ground and Gül crushed the heart in her hand, the organ plastering in her clutches and the pieces falling to the ground.

"I didn't know you could do that," Grant complemented. A faint rumbling of thunder could be heard from above them. Gül simply stayed crouched, staring at the boy she just killed. She stared at the body coldly for a long while before slowly standing up and wiping off the blood against her black dress.

"Neither did I," she whispered.

"Excuse me."

Grant and Gül immediately turned their attention to the end of the alleyway, quickly pulling out their guns and taking aim. A man stood at the end of the alleyway, wearing a dark rain coat with the cowl over his head. He had his arms up in surrender. He didn't look like he had any intentions to fight. Still, none of them lowered their guns.

"Who the fuck are you?" Gül growled.

"I don't want to fight," the man said.

"Well, you're obviously not carrying a gun or a sword with you but I still don't believe you," she said. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm here to negotiate," the man said, "You two are really hard to find."

Grant unlocked the safety cap from his gun. "Then how the fuck did you find us?"

"Does it matter?"

"It does, actually," Gran growled as he was about to pull the trigger but Gül quickly halted him.

"Easy, Ravager," she said without taking her eyes off the man, "What do you want?"

"I have an offer for you," the man said.

"In exchange for what?"

"I need you two to do something for me," he insisted.

"Sorry, sir, but we don't make negotiations with strangers," Gül said while also pulling off the safety cap from her gun.

"Not even if my offer involves Slade's life?"

Gül's eyes narrowed at the man's words. Slade's life. The offer sounded too promising to be true. Of course, if the offer was legit, she would listen what he had to say. She pushed down Grant's gun and lowered hers as well. "Keep talking," she said.

The man pulled down the cowl of his rain coat, revealing the face of Colton Smoak. "Trust me, the job I have for you two is one you don't want to refuse."

* * *

Felicity, Rachel and Slade returned to Starling City early in the morning along with Oliver and Diggle. Felicity packed her things in her apartment and moved in to the Merlyn Mansion as Slade indicated her. She refused at first, finding it unnecessary but considering what happened at the bridge with Gul and Ravager, she changed her mind. Rachel also brought in Rusty. Felicity couldn't bare the thought of leaving Rusty alone and she couldn't return him to Klarion. Klarion had already told her that he couldn't take care of Rusty. Once the cat was returned to him, he would take him to the pound. Felicity heard a lot of weird and just-plain-creepy stuff that happen at the pound. Most animals only last three days before they were put to sleep. So she decided against returning Rusty to Klarion and took him to Merlyn Mansion with them.

Once they were back at the Merlyn Mansion, they were greeted by the nice old man William Wintergreen. Rachel got a little spooked out by Wintergreen since she never met him before. Of course, she was more spooked by the soldiers wearing black-and-orange masks outside the gates. Rachel's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets and immediately hid her face in Felicity's shoulder. Slade assured her that no one was going to hurt them in Merlyn Mansion. She became less afraid of Wintergreen and shyly shook hands with him.

"This must be the little Rachel you spoke about on the phone," the old man said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Roth. My name is William Wintergreen."

"Hi," she said meekly.

Wintergreen showed them to their rooms. Well, it was mostly a room where Rachel was going to stay at. Felicity already knew she was going to sleep in the master suite with Slade. She didn't mind sleeping with Slade. She loved it actually. But for tonight, she wanted to sleep in Rachel's room to make sure she was safe. Slade allowed her this.

Felicity was sitting on the edge of the bed, next to an already sleeping Rachel. She petted the child's head back repeatedly in order to soother her. She had already fallen asleep but Felicity couldn't bring herself to leave her side. She was afraid that if she did, something bad could happen to her.

It made her think. It made her realize that she wasn't ready to take Sara's place yet. She wasn't ready to dawn her costume. She wasn't ready to become the next Black Canary. _Laurel could have done it better_ , she thought as she wiped away a tear from her eye. She couldn't fight. She didn't know how to fight. The only time she thought was against her father but it was pure instinct and adrenaline. She didn't know anything about fighting. And Isabel? It was only one technique she learned from Sara before she died and nothing more. _How can I be the Black Canary if I barely saved us from Gül and Ravager?_ She wasn't ready to become the next Black Canary and probably never would. She failed Sara. She failed her mother. She failed the city. At least, that's what she kept thinking to herself.

She heard the door slowly creep open and there stood Slade in the middle of the doorway. Felicity placed a finger to her lips to shush him. She didn't want him making any noise to wake up Rachel.

"How is she?" Slade whispered to her.

Felicity sighed. "I finally got her to sleep," she whispered, "It took me awhile but she finally fell asleep."

"And how are you?" Slade asked this while placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Not good. I'm exhausted," Felicity took his rough hand and kissed it. "Can we talk?"

Slade nodded in agreement and quietly walked out of the bedroom. Felicity followed him and quietly shut the door. They were finally able to talk without the worry of waking up the child. Felicity was finally able to speak without whispering.

Felicity leaned back against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. "I can't do it."

Slade frowned at her in confusion. "Do what?"

"This. Me. I can't be Black Canary," she said sorrowfully, "I'm not Sara. Sara was the true Black Canary. Not me. I am _not_ her. I'll never be her."

"Question, when did anyone ask you to be like Sara?" he asked.

"Please. Sara can do almost everything. She jumps off buildings. She can fight. She can hack just as good as I can," she said, "And what am I good at? All I do is mess things up."

"You didn't mess anything up, Felicity -."

"Gül had Rachel at gunpoint and I couldn't do anything to stop her except take the bullet," she said, "I wanted to use the scream but I couldn't because Gül had a collar on me that suppressed my abilities."

"How did she manage to get?" he asked.

"LexCorp. It looks like Mr. Luthor is up to his illegal projects again. My point is that no matter what I did, I was still defenseless at their mercy. I only had two options. Do as she said or die. I chose to do as she said to keep her from killing Rachel in front of me. I did what I thought was right and yet I still feel like shit because I know I could have done more."

"If I were in your position, I would have done the same." Slade tried to make her feel better but it didn't seem to be working.

"You have Mirakuru, Slade. I don't. If you were in my position, you would have kicked their asses easily," she said almost bitterly, "But I can't. Not like this. I became bait last night and you took the bait. How am I supposed to be Black Canary if I couldn't defend myself or my own kid from two psychopaths that clearly have a number on you? How am I supposed to be Black Canary if I can't take down my father who knows where he is right now?"

"Felicity -."

"No, don't try to make me feel better, Slade," she said, tears feeling up her eyes, "Because it's not going to work. I'm not Sara and I'm not Black Canary. I'm not even the Canary. I'm just Felicity Megan Smoak, the IT girl at Queens Consolidated with metahuman powers that messes up all the time. I'm not Black Canary, Slade. And I never will be. I failed Sara. I failed my mother. I failed this city. I failed Rachel. I failed myself."

Felicity was crying now. Tears fell down her drained cheeks. Slade took her by the chin and gently lifted her face up. "You're right. You're not Sara. You're Felicity Smoak. But you're wrong as well. You're not the IT girl that messes up, you're the IT girl that keeps fighting. You're the IT girl I fell in love with. And that costume. That Black Canary costume is just a costume. It's what's under that costume that matters. You wear it to honor the death of someone you cared about. So did I, but with wrong intentions. You, my love, honor people with the right intentions. And I don't want you ruining it for yourself just because you don't know how to fight against your enemies. That's not who you are you." Slade pressed his forehead to hers, their noses nearly touching. "Don't try to be Sara. She wouldn't want this for you. When you put on that mask, remember that it's just a mask. Sara was the Canary. You? You're _Black_ Canary _and_ Felicity Smoak. Make both of those names yours and make sure they mean something."

Felicity chuckled between tears. "It means I need to shut my mouth and be Black Canary because there were a lot of things there that didn't make sense to me."

Slade chuckled in return. "My dear, in order to be Black Canary, you need to open that mouth and sing. Canaries sing. And you need to sing."

"What if I can't do it?" she asked.

"Then I'll teach you."

Felicity chuckled and embraced him tightly. Slade embraced her in return and pressed his face into the base of her neck. Tears continued to fall from her cheeks. She didn't know whether to believe in Slade's words or not but it made her feel better either way. They departed from their embraced and Slade leaned to kiss her gently on her swollen red lips. They were swollen by both tears and the punch Gül gave her in the mouth. Slade got angry with the damage Gül had done to her face and swore to make the madwoman pay for that. Right now, Felicity was tired and simply wanted to rest. They went through a lot last night.

Once Slade finished kissing her, he took his black overcoat, slipped it on and departed from her. Felicity confusingly watched him walk down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have business to attend to, love," Slade responded without looking up, "I need to meet with Mr. Blood today."

"Sebastian Blood? Why?" she asked again.

"Mr. Grayson gave Mr. Ramon a bit of information of Gül and my son Grant," he said, "It turns out that they're _both_ working for a cult called the Church of Blood."

"I think I've heard about them," she said, "I think they're supposed to be devil worshippers. Are they following that cult?"

"Grant wasn't really a religion follower," Slade said. It was true. As far as Slade remembered, Grant never liked going to church. He always haed sitting down on the benches and listening to the priest going on and on about the verses and stories from the Bible and the priest kept going on and on about the love of God. That was one thing Slade agreed with Grant. Every Christian church they went repeated the same thing over and over again while being surrounded by a bunch of fakers that probably didn't know what the priest was talking about. Slade knew that only 5 out of 10 members of the church were actual followers of God. The only reason why Slade ever went to church was because Joey wanted to. It was for the music Joey wanted to. Despite not being able to hear, Joey could feel the vibration of the music beneath his feet and he adored the feeling. "I'm not so sure about Gül though. They're both working as their personal bodyguards."

"Who's the leader?" Felicity asked.

"The leader goes by the name Brother Blood, also known as Sebastian Blood," Slade explained.

"And you're going to see if it's the same person, aren't you? You believe he's betraying you and you're going to see him to demand an explanation and if you're right and he is the same person, you're going to kill him."

"That's about it, yes," Slade nodded. She hit the nail right on the head.

"Maybe I should come with," Felicity suggested but Slade shook his head.

"No. I need you and Rachel to stay here. You two have been through a lot last night," he said, "You need to rest. I'll be back soon."

"Okay," she said meekly and returned to the bedroom, and Slade left Merlyn Mansion.

Felicity returned to the bedroom and laid down next to Rachel. She was really tired. Her body was drained and heavy from the low energy. But Slade was right. Not just about her needing rest, but about her being Black Canary. Felicity decided to be Black Canary to honour Sara's death and she wasn't going to let anyone get in her way. She wanted to take down her father. But she was letting fear and self-doubt take over. She was afraid of losing Rachel last night and couldn't do anything about it but run. And now she was considering quitting. _What is wrong with me?_ _I've gone this far and now I'm quitting?_ Slade right. She wasn't Sara. She tried being Sara but with no result. She shouldn't be trying to be Sara. Sara was the Canary. Felicity was _Black_ Canary. She wasn't going to let her mission of taking down her father and avenging Sara's death fall in vain just because she couldn't fight and just because she was afraid. If she was going to be Black Canary, she had to put all of those things aside, to make that name mean something and make it hers and not just a _name_. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _I'll do it_.

* * *

Sebastian Blood was signing autographs for his voters. They were mostly locals with blank notebooks that wanted to meet him in person. Sebastian allowed even the poor to meet him. He wasn't simply going to allow only the high-class to meet him. Slade watched this intently from a distance. Slade knew Sebastian's tactic. In order to gain more votes from the city, he needed to win the trust of everyone he met, including those most unfortunate. To Sebastian's misfortune, Slade never gave him permission to do this sort of event. Sebastian did it under his own account without consulting him. It made Slade more suspicious of him. How convenient it was for Sebastian to plan the event of signing autographs while Slade was going mad with worry looking for Felicity and Rachel. It made him mare suspicious with the fact that Sebastian probably wanted to eliminate Slade to keep him out of the way so he could become mayor without his assistance. It would make sense. It would also make sense why he would hire Gül and Grant. It delivered to be another distraction. If that was the case, then Sebastian's plan was going to prove to be faulty.

Deciding to finally have a talk with the soon-to-be-mayor, Slade walked over to the table where Sebastian was shaking hands with a thirteen-year-old boy of white hair and blue eyes. "It's nice to meet you, sir," the boy said, "I hope you become a great mayor."

"Thank you, and I also hope you get to become great things," Sebastian said and the boy walked away with a smile. Slade placed a hand on Sebastian's shoulder and watched him tense up.

"We need to talk alone," Slade whispered in his ear.

Sebastian glumly nodded and stood up from his chair. "Take five minutes," he said to everyone before following Slade to one of the empty offices next door. Slade shut the door for privacy. "Listen," Sebastian continued talking, "I know you told me not to do anything with your consent, your permission or without you knowing it, but you were busy and I couldn't just sit around waiting for you to tell me what I should do when there are people out there waiting for me to make my next move."

"Mr. Blood, I honestly don't care about what you do to become mayor," Slade said with bitterness in his voice. "But I will ask you not to pursue against me for it."

"What are you talking about?" Sebastian asked in confusion.

"Who is Gül?" Slade asked.

"I might ask you the same question because I really don't know who Gül is either. I don't even know what you're talking about." Slade growled at his words. He didn't believe him and took a step forward which Sebastian responded by taking a step back. "Hey, whoa, wait. Slade, I swear, I don't know anything."

"An assassin named Gül Değer and my son Grant kidnapped Felicity Smoak and Rachel Roth and nearly got them killed," Slade snapped at him.

"Look, I don't know anything about Felicity Smoak getting kidnapped. Hell, I didn't even know you two were together," Sebastian said in panic, "And I don't know any assassins named Gül or Grant. I didn't even know you have a son named Grant."

"They were working under your name, Mr. Blood," Slade took out a folder and threw it on the desk, "Explain to me that."

Slade had copies of the original files Dick Grayson showed him since the original ones were classified and not meant to be read by anyone else. Slade had Cisco make copies for him in secret.

Sebastian looked over at the files and cautiously walked over to the desk and took the folder in his hands. He opened it and began to read. Slade watched as Sebastian leaved through the pages, looking at the copied photographs and documents. After a minute or so, Sebastian's furrowed expression lessened. His eyes went wide and his face paled from colour.

"No!" he exclaimed as he tossed the folder back on the desk in panic and took a step back. "No, no, no and no! Whatever you guys are involved, count me out! Do you hear me? Count me out!"

"What's the matter, Mr. Blood?" Slade asked coolly and folded his arms over his chest, "You look like you've seen a ghost. I'm guessing it's the Church of Blood."

"No," Sebastian shook his head, his eyes still remaining on the forsaken folder lying there, mocking him, "I don't know them."

"You're lying, Mr. Blood. I can tell. Your face is drained from colour, the temperature of your body is rising and you're starting to sweat. You know something of the Church of Blood," Slade accused, "If you didn't hire Gül and my son to come after me and Felicity, then tell me why the Church of Blood did and I'll consider not killing you here and now."

Sebastian finally looked at Slade and pursed his lips together. They were becoming dry and chapped. "I think I rather if you kill me now."

"Why is that?" Slade asked, "Tell me, Mr. Blood. What is that you fear of the Church of Blood?"

"Look, I don't know anything about your kid and that girl coming after you but I'm telling you right now, don't go near the Church of Blood," Sebastian warned, "Don't go anywhere near. Don't mention it. Don't even try to investigate them. These are very bad people, Slade."

"How bad can they be, Mr. Blood? I mean, we are already bad people," Slade said cockily.

"Oh no, trust me," Sebastian shook his head, "These are not just bad people, Slade. These are pure evil. And I don't want to get involved in that shit again. Not again." Sebastian began to walk away. He was heading back out there and try to act for the audience but Slade was having none of it. He grabbed Sebastian by the collar of his suit and abruptly turned him around.

"Not what again!?" Slade snapped ferociously, "And you have ten seconds to tell me, kid, or I'm painting the office red in your blood."

"...Okay...Okay, I'll tell you," Sebastian said in defeat and he began to explain, "The Church of Blood is a satanic cult in Phoenix, Colorado. After I killed my father and my mother was taken to an asylum, my grandfather took me to that church where I became a member of the cult. He was the leader. I was supposed to inherit his place but after the things I saw, I was horrified and disgusted. I couldn't stay there anymore. So at the age of eighteen, my birthday and the ceremony where I was supposed to kill my grandfather to become the Church's next leader, I ran away and abandoned the cult which was a big mistake. They were not pleased of my actions of abandoning the cult. There was only one way for the leader to abandon the cult."

"And what's that?" Slade asked.

"Death," Sebastian said this with such fear in his voice that it nearly made Slade's heart stop. "Death or not, there's no escaping the Church of Blood. Once the bloodline of my family becomes leader of the cult, there's no escaping and I didn't want anything to do with it. I wanted to leave the shadows, Slade, build a life of my own and stay as far away from theirs as possible. And I thought coming here, teaming up with you and building our army would be a fresh start on new life. I was wrong." Sebastian sat down as if he was about to pass out. "They're not done with me yet. Those two, your son and that girl, they're after me, not you. The Church hired them to hunt me down and finish me off. No one gets out of the Church alive."

"You saw something in that cult that abhorred you, Sebastian," Slade said his first name as he sat opposite side of him. He rarely ever called Sebastian by his first name. "What did you see?"

"...Six years ago, there was a ceremony involving a bride and a groom," he explained, "I remember this girl that ran away from her home in Gotham City. Her name was Angela. She ran away because her parents use to beat her a lot for being rebellious and non-Christian so she ran to the Church of Blood for our help. We accepted her into our cult. She was a very nice woman. She and I almost became friends if it weren't for that stupid ritual."

"What ritual?"

"It was a marriage," Sebastian explained further. "We were supposed to summon the demon our Church worshipped so he could marry one of our female members. Angela, unfortunately, volunteered to participate in the ritual as the bride for the groom, something I did not agree with my grandfather at all. I thought they were all joking around. But after the summoning of the demon, it turned out to be the real thing. There was a lot of red fog and some naked man emerged from it and approached Angela. He was the groom. At first, I thought it was just an act, making one of the members as the demon coming to collect his bride like in one of those horror films." Sebastian's voice began to tremble in fear as he continued forward. "But then the horror movie became real. The man's face changed. It turned red like blood, his hair went shocking white and two more eyes appeared on top of his but they were glowing yellow and then the normal ones were glowing yellow. And then he began to grow horns on his forehead." He paused for a moment and placed a hand to his chest to steady himself. Slade could tell he was truly afraid of this demon the Church of Blood worshipped. "Angela got scared and tried to get away but neither the demon or the Church would allow her to get away. The demon raped her, Slade. And I saw the whole thing. It was horrifying. She was screaming in pain and terror while the Church were cheering on. I had to look away and cover my ears so I wouldn't hear them anymore. But they're still buried in my mind no matter what I do to send them away...The next morning, after the ritual, Angela became pregnant. The child would become the Seventh Child of the Demon. But Angela ran away from the church early in the morning before anyone could noticed. We tried looking for her but we couldn't find her. It was like she just vanished into thin air. I never saw Angela again."

After a long moment of silence, Slade finally spoke. "You and your Blood cult are a bunch of disgusting pigs, did you know that? Taking in an innocent woman and deceiving her into mating with a demon when you should have known the consequences."

"I didn't know what was going to happen, Slade," Sebastian snapped at him, "I thought it was just a game. I didn't think my grandfather's cult would take it seriously. And I loved Angela. Just like you love Felicity Smoak."

"So it wasn't just fear. It was guilt that made you decide to leave the cult," Slade stated. "You then searched for Angela on your own account but never found her. If you loved her so much, why didn't you try to stop her from participating in the first place."

"I did," he said, "I tried to stop a lot of times. But she wouldn't listen. She wanted a husband and a family...but not with me."

"And the child she was pregnant with?"

"No one knows what happened to it," Sebastian said, "We couldn't kind any traces of it which means she didn't abort it nor did she kill herself to kill the fetus."

"So you believe Angela is still out there?" Slade said.

"That's exactly what I believe," he said, "And wherever she is, I hope she stays there and never comes back. My advice to you, don't go near the Church of Blood, Slade. They're nothing but pure evil and their demon is the worst of them all."

"Who's the demon they're worshipping, Sebastian?" Slade asked sternly.

"His name is..." Sebastian paused for a moment to let out a cough. "His name is..." He coughed again, and again, and again. Sebastian couldn't stop coughing. He coughed profusely, his eyes growing wider and his face turning paler.

Slade's eye widened when he saw Sebastian cough up blood. He coughed up more and more blood until Sebastian dropped to the floor and began to convulse as if he was having a seizure. More blood began to gush out of his mouth and he was gurgling. "Sebastian!" Slade snapped in shock. He immediately ran to the doors and opened them. "We need a doctor!" he shouted to the crowd outside before returning to attend Sebastian. He was still alive but just barely. Slade could tell that he was dying. He could hear his heart stopping. The only thing Slade could do was turn him so he'd be lying face-down to keep him from choking on his own blood. It was the only act of kindness Slade could give him. Sebastian didn't deserve any kindness after hearing what he did but after hearing what Felicity did for Isabel, he decided to do the same. After all, Sebastian was only human.

"Slade," Sebastian choked up, "Listen...Listen to me..."

"I'm listening," Slade said plainly as he crouched down on the floor next to him. Sebastian whispered something to him before finally dying on the floor with blood still dripping out from his mouth.

* * *

 **Well, guys, that's the end of Sebastian Blood. He's dead. No, seriously guys, he's really dead. He ain't coming back. Lol.** **So what happened there exactly? What killed him or did he just die out of pure bad luck? If it was murdered, who do you think killed him? Was it Grant and the mysterious Gül (I don't think she's much as a mystery to us as she is to Slade)? Was it Colton? Or was it someone (or something) else? His death was based on Laurel's death in Season 4 but unlike Season 4, Slade felt no sympathy towards Sebastian no matter how horrible his experience with the Church of Blood was. He only did him one act of kindness and that's it.**

 **Let me know in the review for your guessing. And if you want to tell me what you think of this chapter, that will be accepted as well. Please follow and favour.**

 **Thank you all for reading. _Black Smoak_ is near the end and things are going to get more chaotic than this. A lot of freaky stuff are gonna happen in further chapters. Trust me. **


	34. Chapter 34: Forgiveness is Stale (Part1)

**Well, here's the next chapter to** ** _Black Smoak_** ***pant, pant*.** ** _Forgiveness is Stale (Part 1)_** **is up. This chapter will have more involvement around Thea since not many of the chapters focused on her and I really wanted to focus on her in the two-parter chapter with all the things she's been going through and how she'll behave now in this story ever since Slade killed Moira right in front of her and Oliver.**

 **And in this chapter, Felicity is making the ultimate decision of taking Sara's mantle and hunt down her father. Remember, in this story universe, Felicity has been through a lot of shit. She's been in and out of making decisions and was stuck in some sort of chalk circle where she could barely move. So getting out of that circle is becoming a risky move she's afraid to take.**

 **Also, I have a bit of surprise. There's a chance Sara will return from the dead. And there's a bigger chance that Laurel will become Black Siren. I'm still figuring out the when and how. But there's a big chance Sara will come back. It's a 99% assurance.**

 **Anyways, on with the show. Cue the Arrow music!**

* * *

Slade returned to Merlyn Mansion after Sebastian Blood was taken to the morgue. The doctors confirmed that Sebastian Blood died of hemoptysis, spitting out blood originated from the lungs and bronchial tubes. They even made an autopsy to confirm it but Slade knew this was completely bullshit. Slade was asked if Sebastian had any conditions or cancer. "Not that I know of," was his only response. Hemoptysis. It didn't make any sense. Sebastian was not sick. It was all bullshit.

He sat in the music room, playing the piano and trying to get his head back into place. Sebastian's death was still a shock to him. One minute he was fine and the next moment he was coughing up blood and dropped dead. No. He wasn't fine even before his death. Sebastian was petrified over the confrontation he and Slade were having before he died. The Church of Blood. Angela. The demon thing. And the assassins. None of what Sebastian said made sense, except for the fact that he had family with the name Blood. His grandfather. There was no telling if his grandfather was also named Sebastian. _Perhaps it was him that hired Gül and Grant_. It made him feel confused and stupid. Slade was smarter than this and yet felt like a complete idea trying to figure out Sebastian's death when he should be figuring out how to find and capture Colton.

"Everything okay?" Felicity asked while standing in the middle of the doorway with a worried look on her face. She was in her pajamas, her blonde locks cascading over her shoulders and wasn't wearing her glasses. Slade almost forgot that she lost her glasses when captured by Grant and the mysterious Gül. "I heard about what happened to Sebastian. Wintergreen told me, by the way. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, love, never better," Slade smiled softly at her and she stepped into the room. Slade took her by the wrist and sat her down on his lap. "Doctors believe that his death was caused by hemoptysis. I don't believe them though."

"And I'm guessing we have another case to figure out," Felicity sighed, "I'll call Cisco to make sure he adds it to the list."

Slade shook his head though. "Don't bother with it, love. We have other problems to worry about." He wrapped his arm snuggly around her shoulder and kissed her.

"But Slade," she muffled and gently pushed him off, "Don't you want to find out if Sebastian was murdered or not?"

"No. Not really. Not at the very moment," he said gruffly and monotonously, "I never cared for him anyways. He would have stabbed me in the back, just like Isabel did. Besides, we have other issues to attend to."

"Don't you think that's a bit cruel, Slade?" What's cruel? That Slade didn't care for Sebastian? That he would have killed Sebastian either way just like he killed Isabel? That he signed the permissions to have Sebastian's body cremated instead of arranging a proper funeral like Felicity did for Isabel? Then yes, it was cruel. But to Slade, it was the way it was. Life could be good to you. Life could be cruel to you. And sometimes…Life could be a _bitch_.

"Life is cruel, love. We need to learn to live with that," Slade said, "Now, may I ask what you're doing out of bed? I thought you were resting."

"I was," Felicity stood up from Slade's lap and folded her arms over her chest, "but it's noon and I'm hungry as heck."

Slade frowned at this. "I thought Wintergreen would be the one making dinner tonight."

Felicity pursed her lips together and hummed awkwardly. "Um…maybe it's because we're not having dinner here tonight."

"What are you talking about?" Slade asked, still frowning in confusion. Felicity was going to tell him something and there's a 99% chance he wasn't going to like it nor would he take it too well.

"Um, you and I are going to eat dinner at Oliver's house." And there it was. As soon as Felicity said that, time seemed to have stopped. Slade remained staring at her blankly but his face was heating up.

After a minute of silence, Slade finally spoke up. "Please tell me you're fucking joking."

"No, I'm not _fucking_ joking," she said, imitating his Australian accent, "Sir Oliver Queen just called me. He's staying at Lady Thea's apartment and they have invited us for dinner as a celebration of Oliver's freedom."

"Stop that, please. That's annoying," Slade said sternly. Felicity giggled slightly but she knew he was serious so she stopped. "Also, when were you going to tell me this?"

"Oliver called me at lunch time right after you told me about Sebastian and you told me that you might be there for a while so I waited for you to come home so I can tell you here."

"Felicity, are you listening to yourself right now at this very moment. You and me going to Thea Queen's apartment. Me, especially, the man who nearly killed her brother at court in front of everyone -."

"It was _her_ idea in the first place, not Oliver's," Felicity corrected him. "Besides, it might be good for you. You know, to work things out with the others."

"Others? I'm guessing Oliver and Thea are not going to be the only ones there."

"No," Felicity shook her head. She was probably reconsidering the idea of Slade going to dinner. "Quentin Lance and Laurel are going to be there."

Slade shook his head displeasingly. He knew that he would be the last person Detective Lance and his daughter would want to see. He was, of course, enemies with Sara Lance. It would be a very awkward and lousy dinner. Plus he killed Moira Queen right in front of the two Queen kids and nearly killed Oliver at court. And not to mention a possessed Felicity when Sara was temporarily taking over her body. He didn't think of it as a good idea.

"Listen," Felicity sighed as if she knew what he was thinking, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I understand if you don't want to go. If you don't want to go, we won't go."

"Now, just because I don't want to go, doesn't mean you don't have to," Slade said. He didn't want her to think he was keeping her locked up in the mansion. She was free to walk out of the mansion. He already gave his guards instructions not to shoot or harm her if she stepped out into the garden by herself. But he was concerned. He didn't want anything to happen to her if she left the mansion alone and with the child. He just found it uncomfortable being surrounded by people he tried to kill.

"Well, I don't think that's how a relationship works, now does it?" she smiled softly at him. "I don't want to go without you, Slade…I'm just afraid."

"Afraid of what, love?" he asked.

"Confronting Laurel," she admitted sorrowfully. Slade now understood why Felicity didn't want to go alone to Thea's apartment. Laurel and Detective already know that it was Felicity's father that killed Sara, and she was afraid how things would turn up if Felicity found herself face to face with Laurel. She wouldn't know what to say to her. "I'm too scared to talk to her. I'm scared she'll hate me."

"She might," Slade said truthfully.

"That's not helping me."

"Do you want the truth or a lie, love? Because you know that I will always be telling you the truth and what I think. The possibilities that Laurel is angry because she's been lied to is grand and the possibility of her not being angry is very minor."

"Now you just made it worse, Slade."

"I'm telling you the truth, love."

"I don't want to go alone, Slade. Please," she pleaded quietly and gave him the pouty face.

Slade sighed again. There was saying. _If I go down, you're going down with me_. _If we go down, we go down together_. "All right. I'm going," he said in defeat. "But only for you."

Felicity smiled softly at him again and embraced him. "Thank you. Should I get Rachel ready then?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to get her involved in this sort of thing," Slade suggested. Rachel was just a child and it would be pleasant for her to be around if a fight broke out during dinner. "She is merely a child and I believe that her mind is not prepared to be witnessing an argument...Is she still in bed?"

"No. She's awake. She just ate lunch," she sat back down on his lap again and rested her head against his shoulder, "Macaroni…again."

"You really need to start feeding that kid something else that's not macaroni and cheese," he said.

"She's only six. Besides, it's not like I didn't try. I tried. She just likes it a lot. It's her favourite. She'll start eating other meals as she grows older."

"Where is she now?" Slade asked.

"Downstairs with Wintergreen," she said, "I think she's helping him with the laundry."

Slade chuckled. "How generous of her."

"I'm told that one of the best ways of getting through trauma is doing an occupation," she said, "I wouldn't call _doing laundry_ an occupation but at least it distracts her from what happened last night."

* * *

The pair went downstairs to check on Rachel. She was helping Wintergreen with the laundry as Felicity mentioned. Unfortunately, it looked like laundry went askew as the entire floor was covered in soap and foam with more white foam spewing out of the washing machine. And Rachel and Wintergreen were having some sort of snowball fight with the foam. Both of them were covered in bubbly foam. Rachel kept on giggling with each throw.

Both Slade and Felicity smiled at this. Without warning, Felicity joined in. She gathered a ball of foam in her hand and dropped it onto Rachel's head. Rachel giggled and threw foam at Felicity's face. Slade simply stood there watching and chuckling at the scene. He didn't want to be in that _snowball_ fight. As fun as it looked, Slade didn't feel like playing around.

He could see how happy Felicity was with the kid. And Rachel looked very happy as well, even after what happened with Gül and Grant. Slade wished he was like Felicity. So far, she was doing a good job being a mother. As for him, he always thought he was the shittiest father in the world due to the result he saw in Grant.

Wintergreen was giving Slade a frowning look. Slade simply shrugged and walked back into the kitchen.

"Look, Mama, I'm Frosty the Snowman," Rachel giggled.

"Yes, you are. Now I really think we should clean this up."

"It's no trouble, Miss Smoak," Wintergreen cleared his throat, "Joey used to be that way when he was Rachel's age."

"Who's Joey?" Rachel asked, looking up at the old man. Felicity's eyes went wide when she asked that. No, Felicity's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Rachel didn't know anything about Slade's past and it was best not to tell her yet. Felicity kept making gestures to Wintergreen so he would avoid answering the question.

"Um, Joey is a boy I used to take care of, sweetheart. He used to like playing with the washing machine as well," Wintergreen explained to her. This seemed to have satisfied Rachel's curiosity since she nodded and didn't ask him anymore questions. She continued playing with the foam in her hands. Wintergreen then looked at Felicity strangely. Felicity simply shook her head and mouthed out the word _Later_. Wintergreen nodded in understanding. "Why don't you two head upstairs to clean up? I'll take care of this later."

"Yeah right," Felicity scoffed and took Rachel in her arms, "Come on, we're going to get a broom and a mop to get rid of this mess. Just because you make the mess, doesn't mean you're not cleaning them up."

"Okay," Rachel said meekly.

Once they left the laundry room, Wintergreen met up with Slade in the kitchen. Slade was sitting by the kitchen island, sipping a glass of red wine. Wintergreen took a hand towel from the refrigerator handle to clean himself up from the foam and sat down across the kitchen island.

"I'm guessing the child doesn't know that you have children of your own," Wintergreen stated, "Drinking before dinner is not a very good idea, Slade. You don't want to be drunk. It's considered rude."

"I don't get drunk, remember?" Slade reminded him, "The Mirakuru doesn't allow it. Anything toxic I drink, the serum in my veins will eliminate it in seconds. It's irritable. I'll need more than four bottles to get myself sober. Also, the kid is six years old. It's not best for her to know everything at once. And after what happened with Grant, it's best to keep it a secret until she has the mental capacity to understand."

"At her age, the girl has the mental capacity to outwit Einstein himself," Wintergreen chuckled as he took the bottle of wine and poured himself a glass. "She's not going to be easy to fool."

"You and Felicity seemed to have done a good job fooling her so far, stating that Joey was just another kid you took care of," Slade said dully.

Wintergreen sighed. "You know I always saw Joey and Grant as my grandchildren, unlike my brother Billy. And yet you let him be the godfather."

"Look, I'm sorry about Bill. I know how much he meant to you. He meant a lot to me too. But the island…it changed him. It changed us both," Slade said apologetically, "I know I can't take back what I did but I just want you to know that I really am sorry for him."

Wintergreen sipped at his wine before speaking again. "I really am having a hard time trying to see if you actually mean it or that you're a fucking liar. I have already forgiven you, Slade. I still hate you. But you are forgiven."

They both sat there drinking their glasses of wine in silence.

* * *

After showering and getting dressed, Felicity and Slade leave the Merlyn Mansion. They even left Rachel in the care of Wintergreen just in case dinner went sour. It was obvious Felicity didn't want the child to be involved in the situation.

It was simply dinner so they tried their best not to dress flashy or too elegant. Slade wore a black sweater and beige trench coat. Felicity was wearing a black lace dress with long sleeves and the skirt long to her knees. Slade was surprised she was no longer wearing her ponytail. This was happening too often, her not wearing her ponytail. At least she was still wearing her glasses but Slade was already feeling a bit strange seeing her without the ponytail. He wasn't use to it. Indeed, it made her look softer and more feminine that way but he still wasn't used to it. Plus she was wearing dark eyeliner and dark red lipstick.

They arrived at Thea's apartment. Thea greeted them with a slightly awkward smile and insecure handshakes. "You look really nice tonight, Felicity," she complimented. She tried not to look at Slade in the eye. Slade knew that she wasn't comfortable being around him ever since Moira's death and he didn't blame her for it.

"Thanks," Felicity said, "Um, is everyone here?"

"Yeah, you're just in time," Thea said, "We were just about to have dinner."

"What's for dinner?"

"Pizza," Thea said. "…I burned dinner so I ordered pizza instead."

"Oh okay. We don't mind eating pizza, right?" Felicity while looking at Slade. The three exchanged awkward looks.

"No, of course not. I don't mind at all," Slade said. With that, Thea led them into the apartment.

Dinner was just as Felicity expected it to be. Awkward. It was super awkward and uncomfortable. Oliver. Thea. Diggle. Lyla. Quentin. Laurel. Slade. _Now all we need is Roy and Sara and the awkwardness will be complete_. Everyone eating their slices of pizzas in silence and exchanging looks every once in a while except for when asking to pass the napkins or the soda. Most of the staring were always directed to Slade. Slade tried his best to ignore the staring and kept his attention towards Felicity. He held her soft hand in his and smiled at her tenderly. Of course, it only made the staring even worse.

It only took 20 minutes when Detective Lance finally cracked. "Okay, I got a question. Are you two together?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Felicity and Slade looked at each other. Eventually, Felicity was the one who answered the question. "Um, yes. We are _living_ together."

Thea then said: "You're joking, right? You two? Living Together? This has to be a joke."

Felicity knew this was going to happen. She was glad she left Rachel back at Merlyn Mansion with Wintergreen. _Maybe coming here wasn't the best idea_. "It's not a joke. Slade and I are living together at the Merlyn Mansion," she said as she took a sip of her soda from the plastic cup she was holding.

"Even after what he shot you at court and tried to kill Ollie, you decided to move in with him?" Thea asked in disbelief, her eyes widening and her hand nearly crushing the plastic cup in her hand.

 _Ouch_ , Felicity thought, _that was a bit of a low blow_. "Um, yeah. I know that all this sounds unbelievable and uncomfortable but yeah, Slade and I are together."

Thea then glared at Oliver. "And you're okay with this?"

"Not really but if it's making Felicity happy, I'm letting it be," Oliver said, "Besides, with Colton stalking Felicity, I don't think it's safe for her to be living alone, especially with Rachel living with her as well."

"I'm guessing you're willing to risk letting a child live with the psychopath that killed your mother and tried to kill you at court," Detective Lance stated.

"Are we seriously going to talk about this now?" Felicity asked.

"I'm sorry, Miss Smoak, but I just don't feel comfortable eating dinner with your new boyfriend around who, if I recall, kidnapped you and Donna and shot you at court," Detective Lance said.

"In my defense, I was the one who jumped in the way," Felicity reminded him. Slade simply sighed.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he muttered.

"I second it," Thea growled.

"Thea —." Oliver tried to speak up but she interrupted him.

"No, don't _Thea_ me, Ollie. You were the one who insisted I invited him too so you're going to have to suck up whatever I have to say about him. This is my apartment and I can say what I want." Thea continued snapping at him.

Felicity then frowned confusingly at Thea. "Wait, I thought _you_ wanted to invite Slade here."

"I lied. Oliver was the one who asked me to invite him. I said _no_ but he kept insisting," Thea confessed. Felicity looked at Oliver in bewilderment. She was completely baffled.

"I thought that if Thea invited him here to dinner, we can all find a way to settle things and we can continue on with our lives," Oliver explained. _He didn't have to lie_ , Felicity knew.

"Settle things, Ollie!?" Thea snapped, "Settle what!? What things!? About what happened at the courtroom or what happened to Mom!? Because there's nothing to settle here! Slade Wilson, the man sitting right there next to Felicity, killed _our_ mom and you still had the fucking balls to invite him here and expect that we can _settle_ our problems when you and I both know that it's not going to happen." Thea looked at Felicity, her nose turning red and her eyes shining. Felicity could tell how hurt Thea was. "And you, Felicity, how low you stood by falling in love and moving in with a psychopath like him. You have a kid right now don't you? What's going to happen if Slade decides to stab you right in front of her just like he did with my mom right in front of me and Ollie? Or what if he kills your kid in front of you?"

Felicity knew Thea was going to bring it up sooner or later. If Slade were allowed to talk right now, maybe he would get a chance to apologize to Thea for killing her mother. But so far, Slade was not getting a chance. Right now, Slade is just sitting there tense and like a headless chicken. Felicity couldn't read minds but guessed that Slade wanted to leave. But he stood his ground so far and so did Felicity. Diggle and Lyla didn't say. They simply kept listening, as well Laurel.

"He won't hurt Rachel or me -."

"Oh and how would you know that!?" Thea snapped, "You've been with him for what, a few weeks? You don't what he's capable of, Felicity. My mother and I thought he seemed nice until he fucking kidnapped me and then killed her. He's a murderer, Felicity, and you're too stupid to see it."

"Thea, please —." Oliver tried to get things under control.

"And you," Thea directed her attention to Detective Lance, "You're a cop. Why aren't you arresting him?"

"We arrested him, Thea. Twice. But we have no physical evidence that Slade killed Moira, his release was already paid and the charges were dropped. I can't do anything about it," Detective Lance explained.

"Well shit then, you and the police are being lousy at your jobs," Thea snarled.

Felicity realized that this wasn't like Thea. She would never act like this. Even Oliver was surprised. Of course, Thea was always playing it cool. But she always had a limit. It looked like the limit had an expiration date. And Thea was lashing out. Slade simply sat there silently while listening to them talking about him as if pretending he wasn't sitting on the table. _This was definitely a terrible idea_.

"Thea, please, listen —."

"You know what? Nope," Thea stood up from the table, "I'm done here for tonight. If you want to settle whatever shit you have with Slade, settle it yourselves. I don't want to be involved in this. I don't want to be anywhere near him. Oliver, I'm done. Do you hear me? I'm done." She grabbed her purse and car keys and headed for the door.

"Thea, wait, where are you going?" Oliver stood up from his seat and followed her. He was trying to stop.

Felicity attempted to do the same but Slade placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. "Leave her be," he whispered to her. Obediently, she sat back down.

"I'm going out, Ollie," Thea snapped at him, "So leave me alone. Clean up after you're done here."

With that, she walked out of her apartment and slammed the door in Oliver's face. Lyla nearly flinched at the sound but didn't say anything. "I really don't want to eat with these guys at Thanksgiving," Diggle mumbled and took another slice of pizza.

Everyone looked at Oliver. He simply sighed and went back to his seat. Felicity was worried. Thea shouldn't be out there by herself, especially with Colton around. Oliver should be going after her and yet, he just left her be and sat down again in defeat.

"Is there anything else you want to lie about, Oliver?" Laurel then asked. She didn't speak for an entire half-hour since Felicity and Slade arrived. Detective Lance tried to find a way to shut her up but she simply glared at him. Detective Lance was the one who shut up instead.

"Listen, I only wanted to gather all of you together so we can finally be honest with each other and put everything behind us," Oliver said.

"Put everything behind us?" Lyla finally spoke up. "Mr. Queen, may I remind you that this man committed so many crimes that even ARGUS is going at his ass right now."

"I'm right here, you know, so please don't pretend like I'm not sitting here listening to all of you gobbling up about me," Slade said darkly. He was already getting a bit impatient with this _Pretending I'm not_ _here_ crap.

"I'm sorry but no one asked you for your opinion," Detective Lance sneered.

Felicity nearly face-palmed herself when she heard that. She watched Slade stand up from his seat. _Please don't do anything stupid_. Please don't do anything stupid. Slade bent down and kissed Felicity on the head.

"I'll be in the bathroom if you need me, love," he said and walked away. Before Felicity could stop him, he was already inside the bathroom and closed the door shut. _This was a mistake_ , she thought. _I should have never brought him here if I knew this was going to happen_.

"It seems like this _gathering_ thing isn't working out, now is it Ollie?" Laurel sneered as well.

"Laurel, I don't know how many times I need to say I'm sorry about Sara," he said.

"You can say it as many times as you want, Ollie, I'd still be mad at you," she said. "You and Sara lied to me and my Dad. All of you lied." She referred to Felicity and Diggle, and her father. "You all knew about Sara being the Canary and none of you said anything."

"Sara wanted to protect you, Laurel," Felicity said, "We all wanted to protect you. Sara didn't want you to know because she thought it would put you in danger with the League of Assassins."

"I don't even care if the Doll Maker comes at me with a straight razor, Felicity," Laurel said, "I should have been aware too. She was my sister. And the fact that you were hiding the truth about her death makes it even worse."

"I…I didn't know what was going on until then," Felicity said.

"But when you _did_ find out, you didn't bother saying anything until the court or until some voodoo trick made you tell the truth," Laurel said.

It was actually Sara possessing Felicity at court. She was the one that told the truth. Laurel saw it. Slade saw it. Oliver saw it. Detective Lance saw – Everyone fucking saw it!

"And what's pissing me off the most is that we're all sitting here eating instead of trying to find that son of a bitch that killed her," Laurel said.

"Laurel, we all want to find Colton as much as you do but we don't know where he's hiding at or when he'll make his next move," Oliver said. "He attacks people in their sleep."

"So we just have to wait for him to go all Wes Craven on us, is that it?" Laurel said. Of course, none would think of it as a good idea. In fact, it was a terrible idea. Felicity didn't want anyone risking their necks for her, including Lyla. Lyla was pregnant for Christ's sake. "What about you, Felicity? He's your father. You should be the one who knows where he is."

"Laurel, stop, you're being unfair," Detective Lance kept saying, "Felicity is also a victim. We're all being victims of Colton's game."

"Colton likes to play mind games," Felicity explained melancholically, "I've seen it. He was always trying to pick up fights with my mother in order to find an excuse to hit her. He was always hitting her. So getting us to fight with each other is part of his game. But this is not my father. This is us. Fighting about the past. Fighting about secrets that shouldn't have been kept in the first place." She then turned her attention to the bathroom door. "And I'd like if you get out of the bathroom so you'd listen, Slade."

They waited for a moment and Slade finally came out of the bathroom. He sat back down next to Felicity. "Seriously, you get pissed off and the first thing you do is go to the bathroom?"

"Yes, and there's a possibility I may have broken the sink," Slade said.

"I'll make sure the plumber knows about this later then," Oliver said.

"I don't want us to fight anymore. I think that's Oliver's intention of inviting us all," Felicity continued saying, "This is getting out of control. We're being scattered. We're literally in a living nightmare with nothing making sense and no way out at all. And I don't want to live that way anymore."

Laurel scoffed at this. She stood up from her seat and walked out of the apartment with Detective Lance shouting after her. But she didn't come back.

 _I can't do this anymore_. Felicity immediately shot out of her seat and left the apartment as well. She followed Laurel outside the apartment.

"Wait, Laurel, I'm sorry!" she called out to her.

Laurel stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Felicity bitterly.

It took all of her strength to finally speak up. "You're right. We were selfish, especially me. I should have told you about my dad killing Sara. I should have told you and your father the truth. But I didn't because I was too scared that my father would come after you, your father or Oliver. I was also afraid that you wouldn't believe or that you would hate me. And I didn't want you to hate me. This is all my fault. Sara was the one who defended me from Colton and got herself killed because of me. It should have been me dead, not her. So please, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Sara, for not telling you the truth and for causing all this."

Laurel simply stood there for a moment, staring coldly. Without warning, Laurel slapped Felicity in the face. It was a harsh slap, one that Felicity didn't expect and she yelped.

"Don't be a fucking _idiot_ , Felicity!" Laurel snapped at her, "You're the reason he's still stalking you in the first place and you're giving him the satisfaction by standing around and moping like a miserable bitch! You want me to forgive you!? You want to honor Sara's death!? Then stop being stupid and do something about it! Get your head out of your ass and find that bastard father of yours! Find him before someone else gets hurt! Do you understand!?"

Felicity was still stunned at the fact that Laurel actually slapped her but understood every word she said. "I —."

"Do you fucking understand or do I have to slap you again to make you understand?"

"Yes. Yes, I understand."

"Good." Felicity could also see how hurt Laurel was (just like Thea was) about Sara's death and that no one was doing anything about it, not even her. Felicity is just standing around doing nothing and getting into trouble. Now she felt pathetic.

Even so, Laurel left. Felicity didn't force her to come back. She let her be.

* * *

"Well, that was the lousiest dinner I've ever had," Diggle said as he, Oliver, Felicity and Slade headed over to the Clock Tower to start their search on Colton. They just had to find something that could help them catch him. "Last time I've been invited to dinner, Andy arrived drunk and wouldn't stop picking his nose. Oliver, man, don't invite me for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner next time."

"You called a taxi to take Lyla home, did you?" Oliver asked.

"Detective Lance took her home," Diggle said while loading his gun.

"Good," Slade said, "We don't want her in danger, now do we?"

"I didn't think you'd care about Lyla," Diggle said.

"She's pregnant. Of course I care," Slade said flatly.

"How do you know she's pregnant?" Diggle asked. He looked at Felicity. She simply shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"I'm a hacker as well, Mr. Diggle. I always find my way of knowing things. Plus it's noticeable. She's been having cravings. I saw her pour soda onto the pizza and eat it."

"You know the worst craving I've seen so far? Her mixing sausage in the ice cream," Diggle said.

"That's not so bad," Felicity said, "I once mixed Oreos in peanut butter once and it was really good."

"It was blood sausage," Diggle said and Felicity made a face of disgust.

"You really need to consider monitoring what Lyla eats," Slade said.

"Come on, guys, let's focus," Oliver said. "The alarm at the Redwood United Bank just went off."

"Which I'm guessing it means it's getting robbed…again," Felicity immediately sat down in front of her computer and worked through the keyboard. "Don't these people ever learn? Luckily, there are only four masked robbers with AK-47. They're amateur robbers."

"How does that make us even lucky if they're carrying AK-47's?" Diggle asked.

"Because those AK-47's were purchased a few days ago at a local gun shop and it was paid via credit card which means I am able to identify the buyers. Plus most robbers shut off the alarm before actually breaking in," Felicity smiled to herself cockily, "High schoolers Barney Venton, Gunther Hardwicke — I already feel sorry for him just for having that name — Raphael Van Zandt and Clifford Carmichael —Okay, who the hell are naming these people? I'll need to talk to the parents because these kids are definitely getting bullied at school just by having those names."

"At least they didn't name any of them Placenta," Diggle said. Everyone looked at him with a disgusted expression on their faces. "What? It's true. Look it up on Youtube on Planet Dolan."

"I don't watch Youtube," Slade said.

"I do," Felicity said, "Give me the name of the video and I'll look it up."

"Guys, come on, let's get to it," Oliver said as he went to suit up in the Arrow suit.

" _25 Dumbest Names Parents Have Ever Given Their Kids_. Look it up," Diggle said as he also went to suit up.

Felicity simply sat there, still typing through the keyboard. Her face still stung from the slap Laurel gave her. Of course, she felt she deserved it. Slade remained staring at her.

"Are you all right?" Slade asked.

"Yeah," Felicity lied, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You have a mark on your face," Slade said and Felicity immediately stopped typing. He noticed. "That wasn't there before."

"Um, Laurel slapped me," she said to him, knowing that she couldn't lie out of this one, "And basically called me a pathetic whining bitch. But she's right. I am a pathetic bitch. I mean, look at me. I'm in front of a computer, keeping watch of high schoolers robbing a bank instead of taking my time to find Colton. I'm a pathetic bitch, Slade. I'm sitting here like a fucking coward."

"You're not a coward," Slade said dryly.

"Yes, I am," she said, "I'm a stupid, pathetic, whiny and bitchy coward. And I don't want to be that way anymore. People believe that I'm the strongest one in the team. But I'm not. Not until I get my head out of my ass. And sitting here behind the computer is not helping."

"Then what is?" Slade asked.

Felicity sighed and went into deep thought. She already did it before when Diggle got attacked by Adam Hunt, she could do it again. But she only did it once. If she decided to do it again, she would have to get into terms and adjustments. _Do it and there's no turning back or don't do it and stay with you head in a hole_. Felicity decided to take the first option in her head.

Standing up from her seat, she headed over to one of the tables where boxes laid. Some of those boxes were brought from her apartment because they weren't really hers. They were from the Foundry before Isabel shut the place down. _We really need to have a serious talk about the Foundry after this_ , she thought as she opened up one of the boxes, revealing Sara's Canary costume inside. Felicity only managed to wear it once to save Diggle from Adam Hunt. Wearing it again and from then on would be the biggest decision of her life. But Laurel was right, if Felicity wanted to honor Sara's death, she would have to move her ass and stop being pathetic.

"I'll do it," she said to herself as she had done many times.

She removed her glasses and put them down next to the box. She then stripped down from her black lace dress, much to Slade's surprise. His eye widened when she literally unzipped and pulled out of her dress right in front of him. Luckily she was still wearing underwear and a bra by the time Oliver and Diggle returned already dressed in their costumes.

They were both shocked to see Felicity in her underwear and they both shielded their eyes.

"What the hell, Felicity!?" Oliver exclaimed.

"Sorry if I don't have a changing room like you guys," Felicity apologized as she slipped on the leather pants. _I'm going to get a heatstroke after this_. "Although, I wouldn't count plastic curtains as changing room. Slade, you really need to let us open up Verdant again so we can have the Foundry back."

"I'll see what I can do about it," Slade said, "I still need to discuss with the investors. They want a meeting with me this Wednesday to see if I'm still fit to take over Queens Consolidated after the incident at the court."

"You're going to get your ass kicked on Wednesday, Slade, trust me," Oliver assured him. After the incident at the court, there was no doubt Slade would earn glares and whispers from the workers at Queens Consolidate. The incident was all over the news. And there was no doubt the investors would eat him alive, especially Mr. Wayne.

Felicity slipped on the corset-like shirt Sara always wore. It was too stiff for her even if the shirt was bigger. Felicity always had a skinnier body than Sara which was the reason why she felt the costume hanging loose. It still felt a bit uncomfortable though. She then slipped on the leather jacket, the gloves and combat boots. The combat boots were slightly heavy but she managed to hold their weight.

"Felicity, what are you doing?" Diggle asked.

Once Felicity clipped the belt on around her waist, she turned around to face the guys. "I'm going with you guys. What does it look like?"

"You're crazy, right?" Oliver asked, "Tell me if you are."

"Yes. I'm crazy," Felicity nodded in agreement, "but I'm going anyways."

"No, you're not," Oliver said.

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not. Those guys have guns and they'll shoot you with it."

"No duh," she rolled her eyes in annoyance before grabbing the eye-piece mask in her hands. She felt like Sara was staring back at her. _It's just a mask, Felicity_. "That's what guns are for. You're not the boss of me, Oliver. Well, you are the boss of me but — You know exactly what I mean. I'm going with you guys and that's it."

"Aren't you going to stop her?" Diggle asked Slade who was simply standing there with his arms crossed.

"Why? I think it's a good idea to let her go on the mission," Slade shrugged his shoulders, "She wishes to aid you on your mission. I don't see why not. Let her loose. I want to see how she does in the field." He walked over to her and kissed her. "Be careful out there though."

"You'll be in charge of the computer, okay?" she asked. It was a favour, not a demand. Slade smiled and nodded in agreement before kissing her once more and heading over to sit on her chair in front of the computer. Felicity looked at Oliver who was frowning at her in disapproval. "Come on, Ollie. Please."

"…Suit up," he sighed.

With that, Felicity slipped on the mask and the ear-piece, and grabbed Sara's bo-staff. _I'm so going to die tonight_. "Let's go then."

The trio left the Clock Tower, leaving Slade in charge of the computer to coordinate and keep an eye on things. "They better get a new hacker because I am not staying behind the bloody monitor," he muttered to himself.

* * *

"Come on, Barney! Hurry up! We need to get out of here before the cops show up!" Clifford Carmichael shouted.

"I'm not fucking Barney! I'm Raph!" Raphael snapped. They were all wearing black with their masks on so they were having trouble to tell which is which. But they were having more trouble loading the bags of cash into the school bus they stole.

"Where are Barney and Gun!?" Clifford asked.

"They're getting the last few bags!"

"Tell them to hurry the fuck up before the cops or that Arrow shithead shows up —."

They were suddenly interrupted by a piercing shriek. The windows in the bus shattered to pieces and the two thieves covered their ears, yelling out in pain.

Once the shrieking stopped, they looked around to see what the hell was that, only to find a blonde masked woman dressed in black standing at the other end of the bus. She was simply standing there awkwardly as if trying to figure out what to do next.

"Um, hi?" she said.

They began to shoot at her and she made a run for it out of the bus before the bullets could hit her. Raphael chased after the girl in black while Clifford stayed to take care of the bags, only to get shot in shoulder by an arrow and knocked out by a bow hitting his face and causing his nose to bleed. As for Raphael, he got punched in the face by Diggle and landed unconscious on the road.

Felicity stood next to Diggle, staring down at the unconscious thief that shot at her. She was now trembling from the adrenaline rush after running from speeding bullets and took deep shaky breaths. Oliver had already told her on the way that she was going to start off small. But she didn't think she was going to be a diversion tonight, to distract the thieves. It wasn't the first time she was used as bait so she was used to it. _It's a start_.

"Do you guys always have adrenaline rush every time you do this?" she asked.

"Most of the time," Diggle said.

"Well, I'm feeling it right now," she panted. "Holy shit."

"You didn't get shot, did you?" Diggle asked as he examined her body for any wounds.

"I don't think so," she said as she checked her arms, legs and torso. So far, no wounds. "The moment I saw the gun, I turned into Speedy freaking Gonzalez in 0.1 seconds."

"You're doing good so far," Diggle said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

"Okay, we got two of thieves," Oliver said as he rounded the school bus and caught up with them. "There are two more inside the bank. Diggle, you're coming with me. Canary, you tie up the guys." Oliver took out plastic cable ties from his pocket and handed them to Felicity. Felicity wasn't used to the codename. It made her feel like Sara, or an impostor of her. _Remember what Slade told you, Felicity, don't try to be Sara_. "Do you think you can do this by yourself?"

"I've been using these things every time I change apartments," she said, "I think I know how to handle cable ties."

"Slade, are you there? Anything around the perimeter?" Oliver asked through the ear-piece.

" _So far, there is no one coming your way so you are free to continue_ ," Slade said through the coms, " _Of course, this better be the last time you use Felicity as bait or else, I shall shatter your skull and spoon out your brains_."

"Slade, I can hear you, you know," Felicity said.

" _I am aware of it, love_."

Felicity simply rolled her eyes and got to work on tying the thief's wrists behind his back with the cable ties while Oliver and Diggle bolted to the bank to stop the two remaining thieves from stealing the rest of the money.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Slade," she said. Once she took care of the first thief, she stood up and walked over to the other end of the bus to find the other thief was still unconscious. "You can't just threaten Oliver over everything he does."

" _He used you as bait, love_ ," he said.

"Ooh please, it's not the first time I offered myself as bait," she smiled. She attempted to tie the thief's wrists, only for the thief to wake up and stab her on the side with a shattered piece of glass. Felicity cried out and got punched in the pace, knocking her down on the pavement.

" _Felicity_!" Slade shouted.

Felicity was too busy moaning in pain to answer him or to tell him not to use her real name through the coms. She felt like she got stabbed by her father again and it hurt just as much as it did before. _Again with the fucking stabbing_. The thief got up and attempted to flee. Remembering what Sara taught her, Felicity swung her foot at his ankles and knocked him down to the ground. _Okay, now what?_

Unfortunately, the thief recovered. He got up on his feet and starting kicking Felicity in the stomach. She cried out in pain with each kick in the abdomen. She even heard her ribs crack. She wanted to use the cry on him but she was in too much pain to even suck in air. The thief straddled her and began to punch her in the face.

" _Stab him in the neck, Felicity!_ " Slade commanded urgently.

Felicity held the thief's wrists to keep him from punching her again. But didn't do as Slade commanded her. "Are you fucking insane!?"

" _Stab him in the base of the neck just behind the ear_ ," Slade said.

"No, it'll kill him," Felicity cried out.

" _I'm not asking you, Felicity, I'm telling you_ ," he growled viciously, " _Now do it!_ "

Felicity hesitated at first but once the thief broke loose from her hold and used his hands to try to strangle her, Felicity quickly grabbed a shard of glass and stabbed the thief in the neck exactly where Slade told her, in the base of the neck behind the ear. Felicity cried out in terror as she did so. Oh my God, why did I do that?

The thief's eyes grew wide when he got stabbed in the neck and gasped in pain. Felicity remained holding the shard at his neck, not really knowing what to do next. If she let go of the shard, there would be the possibility of the thief trying to pull it out and risk bleeding out. Removing the shard herself was not an option either.

" _Now you will tell him this_ ," Slade continued dictating her, " _Repeat my words, love._ _ **You only have two options, either I remove the blade and let you bleed out or you surrender and I take you to a hospital where the doctors will remove it**_ _. Say it._ "

"Listen, you only have two options," Felicity threatened as darkly as possible. She almost never threatened anyone before. Threatening a person's life was something she wasn't used to and probably would never be used to it. "If you don't surrender, I'm taking the shard out and I'll let you bleed to death. If you do surrender, I'll take you to the hospital and have the doctors remove it safely. I suggest you take the second option."

At the end, the thief named Clifford Carmichael finally surrendered and Felicity tied him up with the cable ties.

Once Oliver and Diggle returned with the remaining thieves, they were shocked by what Felicity did. She stabbed Clifford Carmichael in the neck. She had to explain to them that he woke up and attacked her. They didn't need evidence to prove that. She already looked like she got hit by a car. Her hair was messy. Her nose was bleeding. Her lips were busted and oozing out blood. And she was surely developing a black eye. She was also holding her hand to her abdomen where she was kicked multiple times.

What did surprise them most was that Felicity actually managed to restrain him without killing him. The police arrived and arrested three of the thieves and took Clifford Carmichael to a hospital where they would remove the shard of glass from his neck safely. Oliver and Diggle took Felicity back to the Clock Tower to have the shard safely removed from her side.

* * *

Sitting on the table in her bra, she had an ice pack against her cheek while Slade stitched the wound on her side. Her ribs were still cracked after the brutal kicking but Slade guaranteed that they didn't penetrate her lungs and they would heal. Oliver was still ticked off with Slade for making her stab Clifford Carmichael in the neck. He was just a kid. Of course, Slade knew that if she didn't do as told, she would have died. If she wanted to be out in the field, she'd had to learn to defend herself anyway possible and forcing her to stab the kid in the neck was the only way.

"This is what you'll be facing every time you're out in the field, Felicity," he said, "You will be forced to make difficult decisions, like stabbing that boy in the neck. Tonight, this was the decision I made you take. Next time, it's all up to you. That is, if you're willing to do a _next time_."

Felicity knew that this would be the consequences of making the decision. She looked over at the Canary suit stained in bits of her blood and with a tear in the corset-like shirt. If she continued going out in the city with Oliver and Diggle to fight the bad guys and try to hunt down her father, there were going to be more tearing than that. But it was a decision she wanted to make herself. She would bleed. She would be bruised. She would have broken bones and possibly be injured to a point of a coma. But she wasn't just doing it for her own sake, she was doing it for Sara, Laurel, Rachel, Lyla, Thea and to every victim that would be unfortunate enough to fall in her father's clutches.

"You didn't know if the boy was going to survive the stabbing, did you?" she asked him.

"…No. I didn't think he'd live," Slade said as he stood and cleaned the blood from his hands with a white cloth.

Felicity tried very hard not to let out a gasp in shock by clenching her jaw together but tears pricked her eyes and threatened to shed. She was lucky to still be wearing the mask or Slade would have noticed. _You will be forced to make difficult decisions, like stabbing that boy in the neck_. Slade's voice continued to echo in her head. _Tonight, this was the decision I made you take. Next time, it's all up to you_. But that's _if_ she was willing to do a _next_ time.

"…Next time we face another thief, Slade, don't make me stab him in the neck," she implored him. Slade smiled softly at her and placed his hand to her bruised cheek.

"Don't worry, love, next time you won't stab a thief. You'll stab your father." And he kissed her tenderly on the lips.

* * *

Thea walked down the sidewalk as she headed back to her apartment after having a few drinks. She wasn't drunk. She was sober. She only had four drinks, ate curly fries with cheese and bacon and sour cream, and watched the football game on the small flatscreen TV hanging from the wall. She wanted to clear her head after the heated moment at dinner. She lost her cool back there and simply stormed out. Yes, Oliver insisted her to invite Slade over as well when she only intended to invite Felicity and was shocked to find out that she and Slade were living together.

 _The bastard killed my mom_ _and almost killed Ollie_. If Slade killed Oliver at court, she would have lost her mind completely. She would have had nothing left to live for. She lost her mother. Her father. She lost her half-brother. Malcolm Merlyn was her real father but was nowhere to be found and honestly, she didn't want to find him. And Roy wasn't around either. He left Starling City without a single goodbye. Oliver was the only thing she had left and if something happened to him, she would be done for. Her last option would be moving in with Walter but even that wouldn't help her. She would still have a void.

And then Oliver wanted to invite everyone together so they could fix things between them. Oliver thought that Thea was actually willing to forgive Slade just like that, after everything he did. Slade killed Moira Queen, her mother, and that was something Thea wasn't willing to forgive.

She stopped in her tracks, pressed her back against the brick wall of a building and began to shed tears. The many nights she would hide under the covers and wish she'd just die already. She would have nightmares of her mother's death and wished that it had been her instead. She couldn't forgive Slade for what he did. She couldn't. Forgiveness is stale to her and that was all it was to her.

Thea was going to go back to her apartment and tell Oliver that she would leave Starling City to find peace of her own and away from all the bullshit they were facing.

She continued to walk, only to be grabbed by the arm and dragged into the alley.

* * *

 **Well, here's the next chapter to** ** _Black Smoak: Forgiveness is Stale (Part 1_** **). Thea just got freaking grabbed. It's obvious that she got kidnapped and we all know who the kidnapper is but here's the big question is…**

 **Is Thea going to die?**


	35. Chapter 35: Forgiveness is Stale (Part2)

**Forgiveness is Stale (Part 2) is up and unfortunately, the two-parter turned into a three-parter because a certain writer (aka. me) got a little bit carried away with the keyboard. But here we are. I hope you enjoy. Now on with the show! Cue lights! Cue music! Cue the chainsaw! Wait, what?**

* * *

 _Where am I?_ Thea thought as her eyes slowly opened. _What's happening?_ She didn't know where she was nor did she know who took her. All she knew was that it was cold and smelled salty. She heard the sound of waves. _Am I near the ocean?_

"Thea?"

Thea looked around when she heard a voice. She tried to move but felt her wrist tied behind her back and felt she was about to fall. She also felt something around her neck, something cold and hard. She tried not to move as it dug into her neck with each move she made, threatening to choke her.

"Thea." She looked around again. She recognized the voice from somewhere.

"Mom?" She whispered.

"Thea, what have you done?"

Tears streamed down Thea's cheeks as she tried to look around once more but couldn't see anything or anyone. It was completely pitch black. "Mom?"

Thea finally saw her mother Moira. _Oh my God._ Moira's short blonde hair was damp in blood. Her eyes were glassy and lifeless. Her face pale and bony with flesh rotting here and there. A worm even came out of her nostril as well as a cockroach crawling out of the dirt-covered mouth.

"You did this to me," she snarled in a demonic voice and Thea screamed in horror.

* * *

Slade held Felicity upside down, grasping her ankles in his hands as he tried to hold her own weight with her hands pressed on the floor. She felt the blood rush to her head and her arms were shaking.

"I'm about to let go of your legs now," Slade warned her.

Felicity giggled nervously. "I'm so going to fall once you let go."

"Don't worry, I'll be here to catch you," Slade assured her.

Slade let go of her ankles and took a step back, watching her trying to stay in balance. Felicity had never done cartwheels before nor did she know how to walk on her hands. Slade spent the last hour trying to teach her how to do gymnastics as a start. So far, she's only able to do a simple flip, but fell back on the mat. Now Slade was trying to make her stay still on her hands. He watched her take deep shudders and her arms trembled violently as her legs slightly swung back and forth involuntarily. As predicted, she tipped forward and Slade caught her before she could fall. He flipped her on her feet and release her.

"God," Felicity craned her neck around and moved her shoulders back and forth. "How do you guys do it? How long does it take for you guys to actually do gymnastics?"

"A very long time," Slade said, "Do not worry. I don't know gymnastics either."

"Then why did you make me do this?" She asked while rubbing her arms to ease the pain. Slade smirked at her. Her eyes widened when she realized what he did it for and punched him on the shoulders. "You're a dick. You just wanted to stare at my ass."

Slade chuckled and walked off to find the Eskrimas. "Most likely."

"It's not funny. I thought we were going to be serious about this," she said.

"We are," Slade tossed her two Eskrima batons and she caught them with ease. "You caught them. Good. I'm surprised you didn't drop them the first time like Oliver did."

"How many times did Oliver drop the sticks?" She asked as she stretched her sore arms. She didn't know how to pronounce Eskrima correctly so she called them _sticks._

"Twelve times. One hit him in the face and gave him a bloody nose," he said as he grabbed his own Eskrima. He positioned himself into a fighting stance. Felicity did the same. They were doing the Eskrima again. Felicity remembered Diggle beating her the last time with them. _If Diggle beating me with the sticks hurt, I don't want to imagine what it would be like with Slade._

"This is going to hurt a lot, is it?" She asked worriedly.

"Indeed," he said, "but at least you won't be whining as much as Oliver did the first time I trained him."

"How would you know I won't complain?" Without warning, Slade swung one of the bamboo sticks and hit Felicity behind the knees, knocking her down to the ground. Felicity huffed as hit the plastic mattress hard and let out a grunt. She didn't even see it coming.

"You won't," he chuckled. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. "Now, do you know what you did wrong?"

"I got distracted by talking to you and let you take advantage of my distraction?" she asked.

"Correct," he smirked, "but you were also too relaxed. Your hold on the sticks were too loose and your feet were not firm to the ground. You need to learn to use your strength to keep yourself on your feet or else I can easily knock you down with just one shove." He gave Felicity a harsh shove on her chest and she stumbled back. _I'm so glad Rachel isn't here to see this_. Felicity repositioned herself once more, keeping her bare feet planted as firm as possible on the mat while keeping a good grip on the Escrimas. "Good," Slade said. "Now, try to attack me."

Felicity did as told and tried to strike Slade in the chest with the stick, only to be grabbed by the wrist and turned her around, pressing her against him and twisting her arm behind her back in a painful way that made Felicity grit her teeth to keep her from crying out.

"That was lousy," he growled in her ear. "You swung it at a range where I would notice it. Your attacks were too predictable."

"Sorry," she apologized. Slade let go of her arm and pushed her forward. Felicity stumbled a little but found her balance. She turned around to face him once more.

"Enemies don't accept apologies, Felicity, so I suggest you stop doing so," he growled at her viciously.

"Sor – okay. I'll stop," she stuttered, stopping herself from apologizing again. She positioned herself again. This time she would be ready for him.

"Let's try something else," he suggested, "I'll attack you and you try to block them. Do you think you can do that?"

"We'll just have to see about that then, Slade," she smirked but gulped when Slade gave her a glare. She knew he wanted her to take it seriously. _Right, no jokes_.

Slade advanced at her, swinging the stick to her head. Felicity brought her own stick up to block the attack. It worked. But then Slade hit her in the gut with the other stick and practically knocked the wind right out her. Felicity cried out, giving Slade the advantage to hit her on the side of jaw and knocking her down to the ground once more.

Felicity spat out a mouthful of blood onto the mat and wiped it off from her lips with her wrist. _Okay, that went a bit too far_ , she thought. She was grabbed by the arm and hauled back on her feet once more. Slade held her jaw and examined the damage he inflicted on her.

"It's not severe," he said. Felicity frowned at his statement and spat in his face. Saliva mixed with blood hit his good eye and he let go of her jaw. Felicity took the advantage and hit him in the abdomen with the Eskrima stick just like he did to her moments ago. With a spin, she prepared to hit him in the face, but Slade grabbed her wrist again and twisted her around once more, holding both of her arms in place. "Not bad. You managed to find a weak spot to attack but your attacks are still cringe-worthy, my dear," he chuckled into her ear. Growling in frustration, Felicity threw her head back, bashing it into Slade's face.

Slade grunted at the strike and released her wrists to hold his bleeding nose. Felicity then kicked him hard and directly in the gut, making him stumble back.

Slade held himself up on the table and wiped off blood from his nose. He chuckled when he noticed the angry expression on her face. "You're angry. Good. Learn to channel that anger, love."

"You hit me in the face," she gritted her teeth at him.

"Please don't start crying. I merely hit your jaw," he said while straightening up. "I told you to block the attacks. You didn't do it correctly and you got struck. You have two sticks in your hands, Felicity, remember to use them both."

"I know this is going to be an arrogant and stupid question but how exactly a bunch of Eskrimas is going to help me fight?" she asked. She knew she was going to regret asking that.

Slade smirked and asked her to put the Eskrimas down. She did as told and he handed her a gun. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the gun in her hands. She remembered holding a gun once when she and Donna got captured by Slade's men and she had the worst aim ever.

"Point the gun at my face," he instructed her. Felicity nervously pointed the gun at his face. As soon as she did this, Slade quickly grabbed her wrist with the crook of his elbow, twisting her around once more. He elbowed her in the lower back just below the ribcage and grabbed her by the other arm to flip her over his back, throwing her down to the ground. He took the gun during the process and aimed it at her.

Felicity laid there on the mat, moaning in pain. Her back throbbed. _That hurt_. Chuckling, Slade kneeled next to her and put his hand around her neck to keep her down. "I trained Oliver this way and he would whine every time."

"I think I have a pretty good idea of why," she panted. "I need a bit of work."

"My love, you need a _lot_ of work," he said, "But you'll get there."

Felicity chuckled. _Yeah right_. _It will take me years before I can kick his ass. If only she knew she would never kick his ass_. No one would kick Slade's ass. Never had, never will.

She noticed him smirking at her. Before she could ask, Slade was already kneeling over her. "Slade, we have to keep training. You said you were going to each me."

"Yes, and we shall continue later. But first…" He leaned down and captured her lips in his. She let out a small moan. Slade held one of her wrists above her head in one hand while the other caressed her waist softly. He nipped at her lower lip with his teeth and Felicity chuckled.

Slade sat up and pulled his shirt off. Felicity followed his movements by removing her black tank top. She was still wearing a sport's bra and shorts. Then she sat up and pulled Slade back in to press her lips against his. They both panted between the kisses. Slade pushed her back down on the mattress and began to leave a trail of nips, suctions and kisses all over her neck. She ran her hand over his hair softly while the other held his upper arm tightly, her nails nearly digging into his muscle.

Slade kissed her neck and trailed his lips all the way down her flat stomach, his goatee scratching her soft skin and making her tremble and pant. He returned back up and kissed her lips once more. Felicity gasped when she felt his bulge press against the area of her clit. They were still wearing their pants but the feeling was still intense. It burned them both in many ways. Slade rocked his hips forward, grinding her and she moaned again before bringing up her head to kiss him again —.

"Hey whoa, guys, what the hell!?"

Slade immediately got off her and rolled to lie down on the mat while Felicity sat up. Diggle was standing at the Clock Tower's entrance, staring at them in shock. Felicity immediately took the tank top that was tossed on the floor and slipped it back on.

"I thought you said you were going to train her," Diggle said, staring at Slade in disbelief.

"Yes," Slade groaned while sitting up, "I was teaching her a few moves."

"What move? The Kamasutra one?"

"Um, it's n-nothing, Dig," Felicity said while standing up from the mat, her face still flushed "Sorry." She then returned to her computers. Slade was the one who remained sitting on the mat with a disappointed look on his face.

"What's the matter with you?" Diggle asked.

"The mood is ruined," he said and pushed himself up from the floor and walked past him, knocking shoulder against shoulder.

"Well, sorry if I cockblocked you but I don't think this is the best place for you two to get horny," Diggle said, "Besides, we have trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Felicity asked, wheeling around her desk chair.

"It's Oliver," he said.

"What's wrong?" she asked, now concerned.

"He's been trying to call Thea but she won't answer the phone," he explained, "And he can't seem to find her. She's missing."

Slade returned and frowned at them both. "Missing? What do you mean by missing?"

Diggle had to explain it again for him to hear. "Oliver's been trying to call her but she won't pick up the phone. She went to the local bar she always goes to and asked a couple of employees if they saw her."

"And was she there?" Slade asked. He was concerned for Thea. He knew that the things he done to her were unforgivable. But never did he thought something like this would happen.

"She was but then she left at 1 in the morning," Diggle said.

"She shouldn't have been out there at that late hour," Slade growled darkly.

"Well, Slade, if I were her at dinner sitting across a guy who killed her mom, I would have spent my hours at a bar too," Diggle sneered.

"Excuse me," Slade approached him as if he were about to hit him but Felicity quickly halted him by grabbing his arm.

"Enough," Felicity gasped. "And you Slade, control your temper."

Slade huffed but backed away from Diggle. Felicity returned to her desk and Slade sat down next to her. She typed through the keyboards. "I'm going to try to locate the GPS on Thea's phone and track her down. If we find her phone, maybe we can Thea."

"Maybe?" Diggle crossed his arms over his chest and arched his eyebrow upwards.

"Let's try not to think of the worst case scenarios, please," she whispered under her breath. A black and green map popped up on the screen with a red dot in the middle. "I tracked the signal of the GPS. Her phone is in an alley 20 feet from the bar she was at last night."

"Why would her phone be in an alley?" Slade asked.

"I really hope it's only the phone and not Thea," she said, her voice almost trembling. She couldn't bear the thought of Thea getting hurt. What if something happened to her? She took out her cellphone and dialled Oliver's phone number. She waited a few moments before Oliver finally picked up the phone. "Did you find her?"

" _No_ ," Oliver said. She could tell that he was worried sick about Thea, " _I asked the manager, they only saw her leave at 1 in the morning_."

"Are you still around the area?" she asked.

" _Yes_."

"There's an alley 20 feet away from the bar," she informed him, "I just located Thea's phone there."

" _I'm on my way_ ," Oliver said.

* * *

Oliver headed for the alley Felicity indicated him. There was no one in the alley. It was empty all in exception of metal dumpsters, black garbage bags and graffiti written on the walls. Oliver looked around the alley for any signs of Thea or any trace of her. Nothing. He took out his cellphone and dialled Thea's phone number. If her phone was here just like Felicity said, then he would hear it ring.

Just as he thought, it rang with her favourite ringtone _Trouble_ by Taylor Swift. The sound was coming from the trash bags. Oliver pushed the bags aside, the plastic making rustling sounds and bottles clanging against each other. He jumped back when a rat scampered by but found Thea's phone.

It was lying there on the floor next to a banana peel. It rang and rang until Oliver heard the voice mail, telling him that she wasn't available at the moment. There was a note attached to the phone. A yellow sticky note, the kind you put on the refrigerator when you forgot something important. A reminder. The not had a phone number written on it. Below it, it said: YOU WANT THEA, CALL THIS NUMBER AND MAKE SURE YOUR TEAM HEARS IT. OR SHE DIES.

* * *

Oliver returned to the Clock Tower with Thea's phone in his hands. "They took Thea," he said as he walked over to Felicity and handed her the phone, "They took Thea and they're going to kill her if we don't call this number."

Felicity looked at the phone number written on the sticky note. There were no fingerprints on it or anything she could analyze to see who wrote it. The writing looked familiar for some reason. She knew that the best thing to do is comply with the instructions so they could find out who took Thea.

"Call the number, Ollie," she said and handed the phone back. "I'm sorry but there are no fingerprints or any signs of DNA. He/she must have used gloves to write that note."

Oliver protested at first but after realizing that there was no other way to find Thea, he was obligated to call the number written on the note. He did so. Felicity, Slade and Diggle gathered around Oliver, waiting for someone to answer the call. The phone was on speaker for everyone to hear.

After a long moment of waiting, someone finally answered the phone. No one spoke through the phone. It was completely silent. They then heard breathing, shallow, wheezing and heavy breaths going through the phone, and giving Felicity goosebumps crawling all over her skin. She closed her eyes as she remembered hearing that familiar breathing in her ear when she was a child when she laid down on the floor stained in red. She knew she heard that breathing from anywhere.

"…Mom?" she whispered, her eyes filling up in tears. Slade, Oliver and Diggle looked at her in surprise. The many nights she tried to forget, but it was all she could remember. She remembered lying on the floor next to her mother, listening to her last breaths which were wheezing sounds. She knew that the paramedics would not make in time to save her mother. And even she knew she couldn't do anything to save her. Felicity simply laid next to her mother's body in the pool of blood, listening and watching her die.

Her stomach turned at the memory and shuddered, pressing a hand to her stomach as she felt it turn uneasily. She flinched when she felt Slade's hand on her shoulder. "Felicity? Are you all right?" he asked. He knew that she wasn't okay. She was hearing her mother's breathing through the phone and it brought the nightmares back. _It's not real, Felicity. It's not real. It's a trick_.

"…Who is this?" As soon as Felicity asked the question, the breathing stopped. There was a moment of silent.

" _Hello, baby girl_." Her eyes widened when a familiar voice growled seductively through the phone. Colton.

Her face became fuzzy and her head began to spin. She felt she was going to pass out. Slade held her by the shoulders to steady her for he too was afraid she would faint.

"What have you done to my sister!?" Oliver snapped at the phone demandingly. He yelled louder when Colton didn't answer, "Where is she!?"

"… _Patience, Mr. Queen, patience_ ," Colton spoke again. His voice was smooth and calmed. The way anyone would hate if they were mocking right into your face. " _Your sister is fine…for now_."

"Where. Is. She?" he asked again. He wasn't going to ask again.

" _She's just…hanging around_ ," Colton chuckled. His chuckle gave Felicity more goosebumps. It made Oliver's face turn red with fury but his eyes widened at Colton's words. _Hanging around_. What did he mean by that?

"What did you do to her?" Oliver asked while Diggle looked over at Slade and Felicity and signalled them both to suit up. They both nodded and left to get dressed. Diggle quietly went to Felicity's computer and began to try to locate the signal of the call.

" _I gave her nice gift_ ," he said teasingly. " _A nice necklace of silver around her neck. It looks so lovely around her pretty neck_."

"If you dare lay a hand on her —."

" _You'll what? Kill me? You don't even know where I am_ ," he said, " _And by the time you find me, lovely Thea is dead. She keeps crying out for her mother, you know. She wants her mother. What did happen to her mother?...I know. Slade Wilson ran a blade through her heart and killed her. I feel pity for her. That's a lot of suffering to take in for a beautiful young girl such as Thea. I really am sorry for her death. In fact, I'm willing to let her go if…_ "

"If what?" Oliver asked. He knew what Colton wanted. Colton just couldn't help but gloat in his face. Oliver knew _exactly_ what he wanted.

" _If you give me my daughter_ ," Colton said, " _I want Felicity Smoak. You give her to me and I'll consider letting young Thea go_."

"Just tell me where you are, Colton, and I'll be there in a heartbeat," Felicity said as she returned to the room, already dressed in the Canary costume. She wasn't wearing the mask though and neither was Slade when he came out wearing his Deathstroke suit. Slade glared at her, wondering what the hell she was doing but Felicity paid him no heed.

" _My baby girl_ ," Colton said smoothly. One could already imagine him smirking while speaking through the phone. Diggle was still trying to locate the signal. Felicity knew that if Diggle couldn't find the signal, it meant that Colton was using an untraceable phone. But something did catch her ears. Felicity could hear waves crashing. It was a faint sound but it was clearly heard. _They're near water somewhere_ , " _You're smart. Figure it out_."

Colton hung up and Oliver slammed his fist against the desk in anger. Felicity jumped at this but remained silent until Oliver calmed down.

"Did you find anything, Dig?" he asked.

"He used an untraceable phone. I couldn't trace the call," Diggle explained and sighed, "I'm sorry, man."

"Damn it!" he yelled, "We have to find her. We can't let Colton get away with this!"

"Unfortunately, there's a 80% chance Thea might be dead," Slade said, "Even if she's still alive, Colton will kill her by the time we get to her."

"Don't you dare say that, Slade!" Oliver snapped at him angrily, "Don't you ever fucking say that! I already lost my parents, my best friend and Sara. I am not going to lose Thea too!"

"I'm trying to be realistic kid," Slade growled. Iin truth, he really was concerned. He wanted to save Thea too, if she was still alive. But Slade was trying to be more logical about the situation and not go ballistic like Oliver. There was the possibility that Colton could have killed Thea already and was using her corpse as bait, a puppet to manipulate the situation. Colton was really good at manipulation. And if Thea was still alive, she was probably in a world of pain and horrors.

"No, Slade. You're just being a pessimist," Oliver snarled.

"Didn't you hear that?" Felicity asked, still a bit in awe after the _chilling_ conversation on the phone.

"Hear what?" Diggle asked.

"That sound," she said, "On the background while Colton was talking. Water. Waves. It was the sound of waves crashing. I think Colton is somewhere near the ocean. And he said Thea was _hanging around_. She's hanging somewhere near the water."

"Are you sure about this?" Diggle asked again. Both Oliver and Slade looked at her intently as if waiting if she was actually sure.

"Positive," she nodded.

"The only place we know that he could be is Starling City Docks and Starling City Port that are in charge of cargo," Diggle said as he typed through the computer and two red dots appeared on the black-and-green map of Starling City. The red dots were always called _blimps_. Felicity would usually call them _zits_ because they looked like pimples. A third zip appeared on the map. "Then there's the aquarium. He could be in any of those three locations."

"We'll get Detective Lance to check out the aquarium," Oliver said, "Dig, you and I are going to Starling City Docks. Slade, you and Felicity head over to Starling City port."

Both Slade and Felicity nodded before putting on their masks and walking out of the Clock Tower. Oliver had an extra motorcycle out back so Slade decided to take that one. Oliver wouldn't mind, especially with Thea's life on the line, if she was still alive.

"You shouldn't have said those things, Slade," Felicity said, "He's worried about Thea and you just go with that 80% chance of death bullshit."

"I'm trying to be realistic, Felicity, as much as I want Thea to be alright, there's no telling what we'll find there," he said and snatched her arm, "And I believe it's best if you stay behind."

"Fat chance I'm staying behind, Slade," she hissed, "I'm already suit up and Thea is in danger. I'm not staying."

"Colton is after you, Felicity," he reminded her. "He's using Thea to get to you."

"I don't care," she said, "If Thea dies, it's going to be my fault. And I don't want any more people to die. I'm going to help save Thea whether you like it or not."

"It's your funeral, love," Slade said.

"It's not going to be my funeral if we don't get going," she said, "Are you going to drive or should I?"

Slade shook his head and sat on the motorcycle. "I'll drive. You'll crash us into a post or a truck. Or something."

 _I really need to learn how to ride a motorcycle_ , Felicity thought as she got on the motorcycle as well behind him and Slade drove away.

Oliver had called Detective Lance to inform him of Thea's kidnapping and to gather up a group of police force to search the aquarium. Oliver and Diggle were already on their way to Starling City Docks while Felicity and Slade were on their way to Starling City Port. Thea had to be taken to one of those three locations and Felicity prayed that she was still alive. Colton was baiting Felicity. It was a game to him. Thea was just a pawn in the game.

 _She's not there_ , Felicity kept hearing a voice in her head. _She's not there_. Felicity knew that the thought wasn't hers. Someone was talking through her head. _There's a forth dock in Starling City and_ _it's abandoned._ She's there and she's scared. Find her.

"She's not there!" Felicity shouted through the loud roar of the motorcycle.

"What!?" Slade asked loudly.

"I said she's not there! She's not in any of the location! Colton is playing us again!" she shouted.

"How would you know!?" he asked.

"…I just know!" she said, "There's an abandoned dock here in Starling City! I think I know where it is! I'm calling Oliver!"

"Just tell me where to drive! You can call about Oliver later!"

Felicity nodded in agreement and gave him the instructions to where to find Thea. She didn't know how she knew where Thea was but somehow she knew.

They arrived at the old docks where Felicity indicated him to go. She already alerted Oliver and Diggle. They didn't ask questions but they would later. She and Slade arrived way before them. Oliver and Diggle were not here yet.

"We're not going to wait for them," Felicity said as she got off the motorcycle. Slade followed as well.

* * *

The Starling City Harbour, the old docks that was abandoned since the earthquake in the Glades. It looked destroyed with many of the windows shattered and pieces of driftwood floating in the water. Felicity looked around. She could hear the sound of the bell out in the sea and the waves crashing against the rocks on shore. _This has to be the place_. She then spotted the old boat factory, a grand four story building constructed above the water 20 inches off shore with a bridge that helped walk to it. _She's in there_. She didn't know how but she was sure Thea was in that boathouse.

Felicity walked towards the bridge but Slade immediately snatched her arm in a tight grip. "Hold it there, love," he said. "Don't try to enter without making sure we're not walking into a trap."

"And how would I know if Colton planted traps?" she asked. Slade sighed behind his mask and took out a pistol from one of his pockets before handing it over to her. "Take this. You're going to need it more than me."

"Last time I used a gun, I missed…more than once," she said.

"I'm not expecting you to actually shoot someone," he said, "but just in case. Don't try to shoot yourself with it though."

"Slade, I'm not _that_ clumsy," she said.

"You want a bet?"

"Not the right time for a bet," she said, "Five bucks though."

Felicity began to walk over the bridge. As soon as a small creak was heard, Slade snatched her arm again. This annoyed her. "What's wrong with you?"

"The bridge could be unstable," he said.

"My father probably walked over this bridge with Thea. If so, the bridge is just fine," she said. Slade slowly let go of her arm. What is up with him? "Come on, let's keep up."

They continued carefully walking towards the boathouse, the wood of the bridge creaking under their feet. Slade looked like he was about to pull Felicity again. She didn't know what his paranoia with bridges was now. Another part of his past he forgot to tell her perhaps. _Oh God_ , Felicity saw a faded sign that said WARNING: SHARK. DO NOT SWIM. She had heard that the harbour had also been abandoned because of the rumoured shark infestation the water had in this part of the coast. It was no wonder fisherman barely hunted fish here anymore.

They entered the boat factory. Half of the floor was gone. It was splintered and exposed a large gaping hole that showed the dark water beneath. Felicity hoped not to see a fin in there. There was also a staircase at the other side of the boat factory that led upstairs to the second floor and third floor. There was only enough space on the first floor to walk around the gaping hole, if the rest didn't break beneath them.

They heard a creaking sound but it wasn't any of their footsteps. Slade slowly took out his sword from the sheath on his back. Felicity carefully took the safety cap, the gun making a soft click sound; she hoped she wouldn't shoot the wrong target. They then heard whimpering.

Felicity gasped when she looked up to see Thea on the second floor, or what was left of it. The second floor had a gaping hole as well but smaller. But had a plank in the middle of it and standing in the middle of the plank was Thea.

"Thea!" Felicity shouted.

"Felicity!? Felicity is that you!?" Thea cried out. She sounded terrified. Of course she would be terrified. She just got kidnapped by Colton. But Felicity was glad that she was still alive.

"Yes, it's me! Oliver is on his way. Don't worry. We're going to get you out of here!"

"Please help me!" she cried pleadingly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill my mom. I don't want to die!"

Both Slade and Felicity looked at each other worriedly. _I didn't mean to kill my mom?_ Another of Colton's tricks. She must be hallucinating. The pair walked around the gaping hole to the staircase. They were sure the stairs were stable enough to carry their weight. How else Colton got Thea up there. They climbed up the stairs to the second floor where they saw Thea standing on the plank, her hands tied behind her back and a chain wrapped around her neck. Thea had a black eye and a busted lip, probably got beaten unconscious when she got snatched in the alleyway. Her feet looked like they were trying to keep balance on the plank. The end of the chain was attached to the ceiling on the fourth floor. No, the chain was attached to a blanket and the blanket was attached to the ceiling. It looked like Colton couldn't give it more length and had to use a blanket.

"Thea! Don't move!" Felicity said, "We'll get you out of here."

"No, stop. Get away! Don't get any closer!" Thea cried. She had running mascara around her eyes.

"Felicity, she's right," Slade said as he held her arm again, keeping her from walking any further. "You walk a step closer, the plank will give way and she'll be strangled by the chain. And judging by the way she's standing, I don't think the wood will hold her weight for too long."

"We have to get her down from there," Felicity said.

"The best chance of getting her down is me climbing up to the fourth floor and cutting her loose," Slade said, "but even so, she'll still fall into the water."

"And get devoured by sharks." The voice of Colton Smoak spoke up. He appeared from the shadows, holding a gun in his hand.

"Colton," Felicity whispered his name as if she tasted vile. Colton grinned at her cockily.

"What's the matter, baby girl," he said smoothly, "Aren't you happy to see your old man?"

"Not as happy as I'm going to be when you're dead," she hissed. She nearly lunged forward but Slade held her by, reminding her that any movement could make the plank break and Thea would fall, thus the chain would kill her.

"Thea!?" Never was Felicity so happy to hear Oliver's voice as she heard both Oliver and Diggle climb up to the second floor. Oliver nearly ran to her sister but Slade pushed him back. He had to explain to him how taking a step on the plank could cause Thea's life as well.

"Ollie!? Ollie, you're the Arrow!?" Thea asked tearfully.

"…Yes, yes, I am, Thea. I'm the Arrow," Oliver confessed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"I don't care right now! Help me, please! I want to go home!" Thea cried.

"Don't worry, we're getting you out of here!" Oliver assured her.

"Don't be so sure about that, Mr. Queen," Colton said, "Judging by the sight, I don't think your sister will last long. The wood looks like it's about to give. It's only a matter of time before she becomes one of the hangmen. It's a pity. She's a pretty girl."

"You sick bastard!" Oliver snapped at him. "I'm going to fucking kill you for this."

Colton had already begun shooting at them. Slade took Felicity and hid her behind him so she wouldn't be struck by the bullets. The bullets bounced off Slade's plated chest. Oliver began to shoot arrows at him and Diggle was shooting back. Unfortunately, Colton had already disappeared upstairs to the third floor.

"Canary! Deathstroke! Go after Colton! Diggle, help me try to get Thea down!"

Felicity and Slade did as he said and they went after Colton. There was enough room on the second floor for them to run to the other staircase without tampering with the plank. They ran up the stairs to the third floor where Colton continued shooting at them. Slade kept Felicity hidden behind him while he took out his own gun and shot Colton back. Colton was hiding behind discarded boats, however, so the bullets didn't hit him. They hit the boats, creating holes and sending off splinters.

"Why do I need a gun for if you're just going to keep hiding me behind your back!?" Felicity shouted.

"Now you're complaining!?" Slade said. Colton shot again and Slade did the same in return.

"Try to cut down Thea! I'll distract Colton!" Felicity said

"I'm not leaving you alone!" Slade yelled.

"Go!" she pushed him off. Slade reluctantly obeyed and ran up the next staircase to the fourth floor.

Felicity was left behind to handle Colton, shooting at him with the gun Slade gave her.

* * *

"Ollie, I'm sorry," Thea kept apologizing within sobs, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Oliver said as he shot an arrow at the ceiling. It jammed itself on the wood and Oliver gave it a few tugs before swinging himself over to Thea. He took a knife from his pocket and began slicing the ropes from behind her back. He managed to cut the ropes and Thea's hands were free. Her hands reached to the chain and tried to untangle them but they wouldn't budge.

"Ollie, I can't get them off!" she cried.

"It's okay, I got you," Oliver said as he hooked his arm around her waist.

"Ollie, I killed mom," she wailed. Oliver stopped to stare at her, "I killed mom. Slade could have killed me but he killed mom because she told him to. She died for us. I killed mom."

"No, Thea, listen. You didn't kill mom. Okay? You didn't kill her. _I_ did," Oliver said, "I should have told you the truth. If I had stopped Slade before, she would still be alive. But we're here now. We can't change the past. We have to move on."

"I want to go home, Ollie," she whimpered.

"We're going home," he said, "We just need to loosened the chain and we'll go home -."

Thea cried out when she felt the plank crack beneath her feet. The plank was about to give. Oliver needed to loosen the chain before she could fall. He knew that his arm around her waist wouldn't hold her weight for long.

* * *

Felicity continued shooting at her father but would always miss. Colton would miss too. So that's why I'm a bad shooter, she thought. She couldn't keep shooting anymore. She would run out of bullets. She cursed Slade for not leaving her another cartridge before running upstairs. Of course, that was her own fault for sending him away upstairs.

"I don't want to hurt you, Felly," Colton called her by her nickname.

"All evidence to the contrary, Colton," she said.

"You know I would never hurt you," he said.

"You fucking stabbed me in the stomach!"

"You gave me no choice," he said as he continued shooting. But then clicking sounds were heard. He ran out of bullets.

"You could have chosen to let me go and leave Starling City!" she said. She wasn't going to waste any bullets so she grabbed a nearby pipe and threw it at him. She nearly hit him. But the pipe only missed a couple of inches and it hit a wall behind him. _Damn it_ , she cursed.

"I'm not leaving this city without you," he growled. "And you suck at throwing. You always had. You can't even pitch a fucking baseball."

Felicity slowly came out of hiding to confront her father with the gun in her hand. Colton still had his own gun but wasn't using it. He ran out of bullets. Felicity didn't. _Shoot him_ , she thought to herself. _Why aren't you shooting?_

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Colton," she snarled.

Colton slowly grinned crookedly at her. "How many people are you willing to sacrifice until you finally comply?" Felicity didn't answer him. She simply aimed her gun at him. "Are you actually going to let them die for you?"

"I never asked for anyone to die for me, not even Sara," she hissed. "This is between you and me."

"...Are you really going to shoot me?" he asked, dropping the gun and raising his hands up in fake surrender.

Felicity cocked the gun at him. "Do you want a bet?" she asked darkly. But she then heard a crack and saw the chain go taut. Her eyes went wide when she saw what was happening. _Thea!_ When she looked back, she was met with a punch in the face and fell to the floor, her gun slipping out of her grasp and it fell down the hole. She was sure the gun hit someone down below. Felicity spat out blood and glared up at her father. He cracked his blood-stained knuckles and chuckled amusingly. _Son of a bitch_. She growled viciously.

* * *

The plank broke beneath her feet and Thea fell from Oliver's hold with a scream.

"No!" Oliver screamed.

"Thea!" Diggle shouted.

The chain dug into Thea's throat, slowly and painfully crushing her windpipe. Her hands lifted to try to pry the chain from her throat as she choked and the air was slowly leaving her.

"Diggle, help me!" Oliver shouted. Diggle grabbed the chain and tried to pull Thea up but it wasn't helping. It was making it worse. They were watching Thea's eyes roll back and her lips turn blue as the life was slowly choking her.

* * *

"You have two options, Felicity," Colton said. Felicity's eyes were teary but out of anger instead of fear and pain. Her face hurt but there were other thing that were hurting more right now, "Only two. Let me go and save Thea. Or kill me and let Thea die. I suggest you take the first option."

Thea had already begun to hang by the time she pulled the gun on Colton. She only had two options. She had to pick one. She wanted to kill Colton to bring Sara justice. One shot and he would be dead. But Thea...Thea was already dying.

* * *

Slade had already made it up the fourth floor and saw that the chain and the blanket went taught. _No!_ Slade wasn't going to let Thea die, not after everything he did to her. He owed her. Slade immediately swung his sword and sliced the blanket in half and down went Thea. Diggle tried to keep hold of the chain but it slipped from his hand because of the weight.

* * *

"Fuck you, Colton!" Felicity growled at him and jumped down the hole after Thea once seeing the blanket attached to the chain snap. Slade must have cut it loose.

Oliver tried to grab Felicity when he saw her jump but she already dived into the water after her.

It was dark underwater and cold, making her body feel numb. It was dark, almost pitched black but it was clear enough for Felicity to see Thea. She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer. The chain was still wrapped around Thea's neck. If drowning in the water wouldn't kill her, the chain certainly would. _She can't die,_ Felicity thought as she began swimming up to the surface. She wasn't getting near the surface though. That's when Felicity remembered that she couldn't swim. _Fuck my life_.

She then saw the silhouettes of the sharks coming closer to them. _Now I know it's not a rumour_. _We're definitely not turning into shark chow_. As soon as the sharks got closer, their dead eyes watching their and their sharp mouth already open, Felicity screamed creating waves that would irritate the sharks and scare them away. It worked.

Thea was suddenly snatched from her arms. It was Slade. Diggle had also jumped into the water as well and grabbed Felicity before they all swam back up to the surface where Oliver waited for them on the first floor. Once up to the surface, Slade handed Thea to Oliver and he pulled her out of the water. Felicity gasped for air once she was pulled back up to the surface by Diggle.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Diggle gasped as he dragged her to the edge. Slade was already out of the water and helped them both out. Felicity coughed and gasped for air.

"Thea," she gasped.

"She's not breathing!" Oliver yelled. They looked over at Thea's still body. Her face was pale blue and her lips were cold blue. Oliver was right. Thea wasn't breathing.

Slade's eye remained staring at Thea's still damp body in Oliver's arms. _Addie_ , he thought. He stalked towards Oliver and was about to grab her -.

"Guys?" Felicity gulped, her wide eyes staring at the far side of the boat factory. The three men turned their gaze to see what she was staring at.

There was a bomb attached to a wall and it was counting down. 10...9...8...7 -.

"Move!" Diggle screamed.

Everyone ran out of the boat factory with Oliver carrying Thea over his shoulder. They all bolted down the bridge. By the time they got to the shore, the boat factory exploded to pieces. The wave of the explosion made them fall forward and they crashed to the ground. It didn't take them long to figure out that it was Colton who planted the bomb. The question was how long the bomb was planted there? Was it there the entire time or was it afterwards? It didn't matter. Colton already had it planned out. He escaped and was planning on bombing the boat factory with everyone inside. They were lucky to see it in time.

Once on the shore, Oliver laid Thea down on the rocky ground and tried to untangle the chain again. It wouldn't budge. Oliver was already becoming desperate, his hands shaking and his eyes watering. Slade then crouched down next to her, grabbed the chain in his hands and broke it free. There were already abrasions and red marks on the skin of Thea's neck. But she still wasn't breathing.

Slade placed his hands below her chest and began to press down. Usually people would press against the chest but that was not where the lungs would be. The lungs were below the chest; there's a big chance Thea had water in her lungs which did not allow her to breath plus the chain that was previously around her neck. Diggle took out his phone and called for an ambulance. Felicity looked around for any signs of Colton. There were no signs of him anywhere. He was gone. _Damn it_.

Slade ripped off his mask, pinched Thea's nose and began to blow air into her mouth. Oliver and the others watched as her stomach lifted up and down as Slade continued to give her CPR. But even so, Thea wasn't responding.

"Come on, Thea, breathe," Oliver pleaded, crying out loudly as he shook her limp form, "Please!"

But Thea didn't respond. Slade stood up and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Felicity dropped on her knees and began to sob, letting out small hiccups and shudders. He knew she would blame herself for this later. Diggle kept cursing to himself while walking around in circles. Oliver knelt over his sister's body, pressing his forehead to hers and crying. "Please don't leave me, Thea. Please. I'm sorry."

The team heard the police cars approaching as well as the ambulance. Detective Lance was too late. The SCPD were too late. Thea was dead.

Slade sat down on the shore of the harbor, trying so hard not to cry out in frustration. He thought he could save her, just like he saved Adeline but he couldn't. They were too late to save her. If drowning didn't kill her, the chain did. He was going to make Colton pay for it. He was sure of it. Poor Thea. She didn't deserve this. She suffered too much and now she was dead.

 _She's not dead_. Slade kept hearing a voice in his head, a voice that's not his own. _She's still in there_. _She's in there_. Slade looked over at Thea's body, still being held by Oliver. _Help her_. _Don't let her die_.

* * *

 _"Addie, can you hear me?" a young Slade cried out as he pushed his hands against Adeline's stomach, trying to get her to breath. But she wasn't responding. "Addie, please, wake up!"_

* * *

"Move," Slade demanded and pushed Oliver away from Thea's body.

"Slade, she's dead!" Oliver cried.

"You Queens are hard to kill, kid, so don't give me any of that crap," Slade growled at him before he began to perform CPR on Thea again, pressing down below her chest harder and blowing more air into her mouth. He continued like this, pressing down 10 times before blowing into her mouth and repeating the pattern over and over again. "Come on, kid, breathe!"

* * *

 _"Addie, please, breathe!" Slade shouted and pounded his fist against Adeline's chest._

* * *

"Come on, Thea, breathe!" Felicity cried as she crawled next to her body and took her hand in hers, "We're all here waiting for you. Breathe."

"Come on, Thea," Diggle said as well.

Slade continued the CPR. Thea still wasn't responding. "Listen, I'm sorry I killed your mother. Come back and you can hate me all you like. Insult me. Call me names," Slade said before blowing into her mouth again. "Just breathe."

"It's not working," Oliver said.

"Don't be a pessimist," Slade said. He wasn't going to give up on Thea, not after what he put her through. She didn't deserve death. Slade then began to pound his fist against Thea's chest repeatedly, much to Oliver's dismay.

"Stop that."

"Sorry, kid, but this is the only way," Slade said as he continued pounding his fist against her chest hard. It was the only way. If it didn't work, nothing could. He continued pounding his fist onto her chest again and again and again and again. "Come on, kid, breathe. Breathe, Thea..."

 _"Addie, breathe!"_

"Breathe, Thea!"

 _"Breathe!"_

"Thea, breathe!"

 _"BREATHE!" Slade pounded his fist one last time on her chest and Adeline gasped for air._

Thea's upper body flung forward and water spewed out of her mouth. She then began to cough and gasp for air. "Oh my God, Thea. You're okay," Oliver said with glad. Thea continued coughing and gasping before she began to cry profusely. Oliver held her to his chest to comfort her. "It's okay. I'm here," he assured her. Slade sighed of relief and looked at Felicity with a smile. She too was relieved as well as Diggle. All four of them were relieved. Detective Lance arrived and was surprised to see that Deathstroke was really Slade Wilson and that Oliver Queen was the Arrow and what surprised him most was Felicity Smoak in the Black Canary costume and John Diggle was in on it. None of it mattered to them right now. Thea was alive and that was all that mattered right now

* * *

 **I hope you liked Part 2. Part 3 is coming up very soon. Tell me what you think of this chapter.**


	36. Chapter 36: Forgiveness is Stale (Part3)

**Part 3 is up. This is the aftermath of Thea's rescue. Enjoy.**

* * *

The paramedics were attending Thea, putting her on a respirator machine to regulate her breathing since she wouldn't stop coughing; they even put her under sedation to calm her down. Felicity had managed to sneak Hypnocil into her sedatives to keep her from having dreams Oliver/Arrow, Diggle and Detective Lance went to check on the explosion along with two more officers. There was no sign of Colton anywhere, just a burning boat factory and a couple of dead sharks. Quentin shuddered at the sight of them, remembering what Sara's cause of death was; he was upset that they weren't able to catch Colton but at least Thea was safe.

Slade stood at the edge of the harbour, staring at the nightly sky. He still wasn't wearing his mask, despite the many people now at the harbour. He didn't care anymore if they saw his face or not, and even if they did, it wouldn't make any difference. Mask or no mask, Slade would still be the most feared.

The longer he stared at the sky, the more he thought of Adeline and his son Joe, and how much he regretted not being there for them both or at least telling them he was still alive.

"Thea is going to be okay," Felicity said as she stopped by his said, "They said her breathing is turning back to normal. But she's still shaken up."

"Looks like Colton pulled another of his tricks on her," Slade mumbled without taking his eyes off the sky, "Thea believed she was the one who caused her mother's death."

"And then Oliver kept telling her it was his own fault," she said, her arms crossing over her chest, "The boat factory isn't exactly soundproof. You can actually hear everything in there and you're not wearing your mask."

Slade smirked. "My dearest Canary, you're looking at the face of the man who literally gives zero fucks about a mask."

Felicity smiled softly. "You're thinking about Adeline and Joey, aren't you?"

"I was just wondering what will happen if I tell them I'm still alive," he said.

"You'll never find out if you don't call them," she said, nudging him.

"And if they don't wish to talk to me?" he asked, finally looking at her. Felicity looked pale, even under the moonlight, and her hair was still damp. She could get hypothermia if she didn't get out of the cold air.

"It wouldn't hurt to try, now wouldn't?" she said. When Slade didn't answer, she continued, "I already called Donna to make sure she was okay. Colton hasn't gotten to her so far. I told her to take Hypnocil for now on. She asked what it was all about but I told her that it was important."

"Is she going to take Hypnocil?"

"Yes," she said, "Also, Diggle is going to make sure Lyla takes Hypnocil as well. He said he's going to the doctors first to check if the Hypnocil won't affect the baby before giving it to her."

"Good," he said, "I'll make sure Wintergreen takes them as well. He and Bill were like brothers to me. I don't wish to lose another one."

"And what about the rest of your men?" she asked.

"They're not important to me," he grumbled. Felicity simply frowned at him. It was a cold thing for him to say. It was a cruel reality though. Slade didn't really care much about his soldiers. He only cared about the people closest to him and that was all he needed. "I need you to know this, love. When trying to revive Thea, Adeline was the image in my head." Felicity simply stared at him in confusion. "My brother raped and murdered a girl, and I helped him dispose of the body in the ocean. Trying to fix things, Adeline was helping me find the body so we could take it to the police and confess everything. But there was a storm that day. We were at the docks. The waves and the wind were so violent that it broke the docks, and Adeline and I went under. Long story short, when I got out of the water, I went to search for Adeline. I found her. She wasn't breathing."

"So you performed CPR on her just like with Thea?"

"Yes, except that it felt different," he sighed.

"How so?" she asked.

"I didn't think Thea would survive," he said, "I didn't put as much effort as I did with Adeline because I didn't believe she would live. But I was wrong."

"She's alive because of you, Slade," she reminded him, "You saved her."

"Yes. But she is now traumatized and an orphan because of me," Slade reminded her.

"You know, instead of criticizing yourself for what you did in the past, why you don't start praising for what you did _now_?" she advised him meekly. "You saved Thea and that's all people care about right now."

"We both saved Thea, love," he reminded her again, "You were the one that jumped down the waters after her, knowing that it would be infested with sharks. What were you thinking?"

"I honestly didn't know what I was thinking," she shook her head and chuckled, "It was pure instinct. I had two options. Let Thea die and kill Colton or let Colton go and save Thea. I chose to save Thea. And I don't regret making that decision. Plus I forgot I don't know how to swim."

"You really _do_ more work," Slade chuckled as he placed his arm around her shoulder and held her close to keep her warm.

"Slade, we're still working. You can keep me warm when we get back home and you can do it however you like," she chuckled. Slade laughed at this but nodded in agreement and removed his arm from her.

Slade's smile slowly disappeared. "I shot my brother, Felicity."

"What?"

"I shot my brother," he said, "He threatened to kill Adeline if I took the body to the police station. So I shot him. If we're going to be working together, I don't want any more secrets between us. That's why I'm telling you this."

Felicity didn't say anything. She stared at him with a surprised look on her face. She then removed her eye-mask and kissed him. "Why did you take off the mask?" he asked. "They are all staring at us." They could see them. The paramedics and the police were staring at them, including Oliver and Diggle. Felicity smiled though.

"Slade, you're looking at the girl who literally gives zero fucks about masks and I sincerely don't give fucks about this. You're a good man, Slade, remember that," she smiled. Slade smirked and continued kissing her.

* * *

 **The next day…**

"Thanks for doing this for us, Dr. Nigma," Diggle said once he and Lyla got to their appointment at the obstetrician. Their obstetrician was a man named Dr. Edward Nigma and he seemed nice enough. Of course, the nurses warned them that Dr. Nigma could be quite strange and annoying with his constant riddles but that he was a good doctor, one of the best in Starling City so far. He first worked at a hospital in Gotham City but was transferred to the hospital in Starling General Hospital.

"I'm glad to help," Dr. Nigma said with a smile. He was a nerdy-looking young man with glasses and nearly had the same speech pattern a certain IT computer hacker back at the Clock Tower. "Have a seat. And you, Mrs. Diggle, lie down so I can check the baby."

Diggle helped Lyla lie down on the exam table. The belly was already beginning to swell but not as much that would make her struggle to sit down or lie down. She was only a few weeks or a month pregnant. Diggle sat down next to her and held her hand. He was nervous. He didn't know what to think or what was happening inside Lyla's womb.

He wanted to know if the baby was alright before getting to the Hypnocil part. He wasn't going to force Lyla into taking pills that could risk the baby's life. They needed to check on the baby first and see if it was safe for her to take the pills or not.

Diggle watched the doctor rubbed the blue jelly onto Lyla's stomach just below the bellybutton before pressing in that weird stick-thing Diggle didn't know what it was called. Diggle and Lyla looked at the ultrasound monitor to see the baby. They couldn't see anything for the moment and that worried him. He heard that babies could dream even when they're not born. He was concerned for the baby's life. Colton could actually hurt it and no one would notice until it's too late.

"Oh, here we are," Dr. Nigma said as if he were signing, "The babies are healthy and they have a very strong heartbeat."

"Are you sure?" Diggle asked. "My wife's been having bad dreams and we were thinking of using this medication called Hypnocil but we're not sure if that will affect the kid's birth."

"Let me have a look," Dr. Nigma said with the gesture of his hand. Diggle handed over the medication and the doctor squinted his eyes to get a better vision. "Let's see the side effects. Dizziness. Drowsiness. Minor headaches. Increase of appetite. Increase of urinating. This medication has been distributing since 1978 and has not been affecting anyone negatively so far, including pregnant women so I believe it's safe for your wife to take them without affecting the babies."

"Thank you, doctor," Diggle sighed of relief before taking the medication back and putting it away.

"Um, excuse me, Doctor. I'm sorry to ask this but you just said _babies_ instead of _baby_. Twice," Lyla said with a scrutinized look on her face. Diggle looked at the doctor in confusion as well. Dr. Nigma simply grinned.

"Riddle me this," he said, "What has two heads, two hearts, four arms and four legs, and it's growing inside you?...Twins."

* * *

Thea sat on the couch, having a blanket over her and watching _Doctor Who_ on TV. She always loved watching _Doctor Who_ ever since she was a child. She was always confused of why they would change to different doctors in _Doctor Who_. She also thought that his name really was Doctor Who but he's actually called the Doctor.

Thea's fingers lingered over her neck where the chains had been. She could still feel the cold metal pressed in on her throat and crushing her windpipe. She felt the life being taken away from her…twice. One being hung from a chain and the other almost getting eaten by a swarm of sharks after being dropped in the water. She was thankful of Felicity jumping into the water her and scaring the sharks away with her sonic scream. Slade then was the one who performed CPR to revive her. But Thea was still shaken up. She almost died yesterday and what was worse was the image of her mother's corpse still stuck on the back of her head. She saw her mother's corpse and it kept blaming Thea for her death. That wasn't her mother though and she knew this very well. It was Colton playing tricks on her. But still, Colton figured out Thea's weakness and fears and exploited it.

It was a lot for her to take in. She just wanted to be alone. After being dispatched from the hospital, Oliver took Thea home. She slept on the sofa. Well, no, she didn't sleep. She just laid on the couch silently, watching blankly at the TV. She had been that way since the incident at the docks last night and Oliver was worried. He only stepped out of her apartment to buy her Chinese food.

She was alone right now. But the thing was, she didn't want to be alone. She only said it because her mind was set in the wrong place at the moment. But she was desperate for Oliver to come back

She suddenly heard a knock on the door and her mind snapped. Oliver had the key to her apartment so there was no reason for him to knock. That was not Oliver. Panicking and her body filling up with adrenaline, she ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

She carefully and slowly walked over to the front door where she opened it and raised the knife, ready to stab whoever it was.

It was Slade, however.

"Slade?"

"Please put the knife down, I'm not here to harm you," Slade said while pushing the knife down and prying it from her hands.

Thea was surprised to see Slade here again. Of course, she shouldn't be surprised if he and Felicity saved her but she wondered why he arrived while Oliver was absent.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice croaking and performing the _tough girl_ act by crossing her arms. Inside, she wanted to scream her head off.

Slade sighed at her behaviour. "I want to see if you're all right. Where's Oliver?"

"He stepped out for a moment and I'm fine," she answered. Without being invited in, Slade brushed past her and entered her apartment. Won't you come in? "How is Felicity? I never got to thank her for saving me. Nor did I thank you."

"He shouldn't have left you alone," Slade said. Thea noticed a yellow folder in his hand and it looked like it had a lot of documents. He set them down on the coffee table in front of the couch she was previously sitting. "You're welcome, by the way."

"I said I'm fine, Slade," she said more sternly. Her throat was still sore and it hurt to talk. "If that's all you want to know, then you can leave."

"I thought I'd have a talk with you and since Oliver is not here, this might be the best opportunity," Slade said as he sat down on the couch.

"Talk about what?" she asked. Slade didn't answer. He gestured her to sit on the couch with him. Rolling her eyes, she sat back down on the couch, the other end as far away from him as possible. She was still angry about what he did to her mother and didn't care if he saved her life.

"I want to talk about you," he said. "About you and me. About what happened to Moira."

"I don't think there's nothing to talk about between us, especially when it comes to my mother, Slade. You killed her. You ran a sword through her heart. "

"I am aware of that. And I'm sorry," Slade said apologetically. Thea shook her head in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes.

"After everything you did. After everything you put us through, now you're saying that you're sorry. I don't believe it. You were never sorry for killing my mother before. You're not sorry now," her voice squeaked when she said that.

"Believe what you want, Thea, but I am sorry for killing Moira," Slade said sorrowfully, "You have no idea how sorry I am." He sighed before continuing. "Anger clouded me, Miss Queen. I suffered the loss of a woman I loved but never loved me back. And I thought making your brother suffer by taking away everything and everyone he loves would help take away the pain and finally give the justice deserving. But things changed. I realized too late that it wasn't worth it."

"Too late? You're beyond too late, Slade. You kidnapped me in order to scare Oliver and then you killed my mother," she kept reminding him. "You're beyond late."

"I am too late to ask for forgiveness, Thea," Slade said, "Besides, you're not the only one. I still haven't forgiven Oliver for what happened to Shado but I decided for a truce to be made —."

"Well, I don't want any kind of truce with you, Slade, and I'm not forgiving you," Thea said now tearfully. Slade looked at her pitifully and attempted to brush away her tears but considering it, he drew back his hand.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me, Thea, nor am I asking you to make a truce," he said, "I don't deserve to be forgiven by you, especially for the things I've done to you and your family." Doctor Who was still on. Annoyed by the talking on TV, Slade took the remote and turned the TV off, making everything silent. He took a brief moments with his thoughts before he began to speak again. "Among all the people that suffered, you were the one who has suffered most. The death of your father. The apparent death of your brother Oliver. Your rebellious phase. Your drug abuse with Vertigo. The death of your half-brother Thomas Merlyn. Your mother killing thousands of lives and being incarcerated for it. Finding out that Malcom Merlyn is your father —."

"That was on you."

"You were the one who asked me to tell you Oliver's secret, and I _did_. I told you the truth even though it was for different intentions," he said, "But it all comes down to the same results. You were the one who fell victim during the crossfire. And I think it's best if you don't suffer anymore."

He picked up the envelope from the coffee table and handed it to Thea. "It's a small offer. Of course, once you look at them carefully, the choice will be completely yours. You decide if you want to take it or not." She took it in her hands and hesitantly opened it before looking what was inside.

* * *

"Miss Lance."

Laurel was working in her office when she heard Felicity speak up. She turned around to see her standing in her office, wearing the Black Canary costume. Laurel was still angry but considering with what happened with Thea, she let it slide for the moment. Thea almost died and the worst thing Laurel could do was snap at her and chase her out of the office. She did wonder, however, how Felicity managed to sneak into the building without the security guards catching. It was obvious that Felicity did not climb through a window; she probably took the backstairs.

"What are you doing here?" Laurel asked with her arms crossed and giving her a stern look.

"Thea Queen is safe," Felicity said, "She returned home with Oliver Queen."

"Why are you talking like that?" Laurel asked. Felicity was using that voice manipulator both Oliver and Sara used. It made her sound a lot deeper.

"Security cameras," she said, "The police could use voice recognition to identify me."

Laurel nodded at this. "Makes total sense."

"Unfortunately, the kidnapper and the murderer of your sister escaped from us," Felicity explained. Laurel glared daggers at her. Even the slightest mention of Colton made Laurel want to slap her again but stood her ground. "But I promise you that he will be found and he will be dealt with."

"Capturing and arresting him will not be enough, Canary," Laurel said sternly. "He'll just escape again and even if he doesn't escape, he'll still be doing that voodoo thing he does."

"Who says anything about arresting him?" Felicity said darkly. Laurel's heart skipped a beat when she said that. _Is she serious?_ "Miss Lance, I want Colton Smoak dead as much as you do. I want him to pay for what he did to Sara Lance and everyone else he killed. And nothing will give me more pleasure than killing him myself. The Arrow doesn't know I'm here. He doesn't know I'm telling you these things. And honestly, I don't want him to know."

"What are you going to do about it then? What's your next move?" she asked.

"…I don't know." Laurel simply rolled her eyes when Felicity said that. Despite her efforts, she was still clueless. "I'm new to this, Miss Lance. I've never fought a criminal in my entire life. Hell, I never knocked out anyone with a punch like the Arrow does. Miss Lance, you have no idea how sorry I am for your sister. She was a great friend and a wonderful fighter. And I would do anything to get her back. The best for me to do now is find a way to bring her justice. And I will bring justice. You have my word."

"I don't want you word, Canary," Laurel said seriously, "I want Colton dead. Give him hell and make it hurt. Then we'll see if you can actually keep your word."

"…Hell has already been waiting for him the day he was born," Felicity said sorrowfully. It hurt her to say those words. Laurel knew that she was just playing the part of the Black Canary and that Felicity Smoak wanted to say something much more than that but kept herself in character, "I'm just going to help him get there faster."

With that, Felicity walked away from her office.

"Hey, how did you get up here without security catching you?" Laurel asked as Felicity had already disappeared.

"Don't ask!" she shouted from a distance.

* * *

Oliver returned to Thea's apartment with Chinese food. Thea loved Chinese food, especially the chicken bits that tasted like honey. Oliver couldn't tell if that was considered a Chinese food since he had been in Hong Kong before but he let it slide for her.

He entered the apartment with the spare key she gave him. Of course, once he entered, Thea wasn't in sight. She wasn't sitting on the couch where he left her. "Thea?" he called out to her. She didn't respond.

Oliver put the bag of Chinese food down and quickly went to Thea's room to find it empty. Not just of Thea but her stuff was gone as well. The closet was empty from clothing, the bed was bare and her laptop was no longer on the wind-seat she loved so much. She was gone. Thea left.

 _She couldn't have gone far. She could still be in Starling City_. He didn't want to lose Thea, not after he got her back. He went back to the living room to grab his car keys. She could not have gone far. Oliver then noticed a piece of paper folded in a neat square shape folded on the coffee table. It had his name written on it. Thea had written him a letter.

Oliver took the piece of paper in his hands and unfolded it. The paper was written in blue ink and it was _her_ writing indeed:

 _Dear, Ollie:_

 _You're probably wondering where I am. You're probably scared out of your mind and going crazy looking for me. Don't._ _Don't look for me, Ollie. Just don't. I am so sorry. I am grateful for everything you and the others did for me. I really am. But I can't stay. Colton kidnapping me and nearly killing me was the last straw. I should have made this decision the day mom died. I'm just too tired of all this. I already lost dad, I lost mom, my boyfriend, my half-brother and I'll probably lose you if you ever find this letter. I can no longer stay here in Starling City. There's too much memory and pain for me. I need to get away. I need to be on my own for a while and as much as I hate being alone, I think I need it. Slade came by an hour ago and gave me tickets for an international flight. He said I can go anywhere whenever I want. He gave them to me with a choice. And I chose to leave Starling City. Where would I go? I don't know, as long as it's far away from the city as possible. What would I do? I don't know that either. But if I'll be able to find peace where I'm going, then let it be so. Please understand that this is what I want. I could have rejected Slade's offer, especially after what he did to mom, but I didn't. I decided to take the offer. I don't know how long I'll be gone. I'll probably never come back. But if I do decide to come back, I'll let you know._

 _If you happen to find this letter, Ollie, I hope you can forgive me and understand the choice I made. I love you, Ollie. I'll miss you very much. Goodbye for now._

 _-Thea._

Tears streamed down Oliver's face while reading the letter. Thea left Starling City just like that. If this happened a while ago, it meant that she was already long gone. Even if he found her at the nearest airport, she probably chose an early flight to leave the city as fast as possible. He would never catch up to her and what was worse was that Slade helped her into it instead of talking her out of it. Thea was gone and it was possible that she was never coming back to Starling City. He would probably never his little sister again. He lost his father, his mother, his best friend, his girlfriend, the company and now his little sister was gone, the only person he had left to care about. Now he felt truly alone.

"You need to let her go, Ollie."

Oliver's eyes widened when he recognized the familiar voice talking to him.

He turned around to find Sara standing behind him. "Sara." She looked completely different. She was dressed differently, a white sweater and military pants, and her hair looked brighter and her face looked lit. She looked _alive._

"Sara? You're alive?" he asked.

Sara shook her head sideways. "No. Ollie, no. I'm sorry. I'm not alive. I'm dead." She reached out her hand and placed it upon his face. He felt nothing. There was no warmth or coldness in her touch. There was nothing in it. It was like being touched by a hologram.

"Can you feel _me_?" he asked.

"…No," she said. A small tear ran down her cheek. "I can't feel anything here. Not anymore."

"How are you here if you're dead?" he asked. He didn't understand this. The last time he saw Sara, she was possessing Felicity at court. He missed her terribly.

"I don't know. I just wanted to see you one last time before I leave," she said. Oliver immediately stood up and stormed towards her embrace her tightly. He couldn't feel the warmth of her body and he knew that Sara couldn't feel it either. But he missed her so badly.

"Please don't go," he pleaded. His hand was on her hair but he couldn't feel it either. "Please don't leave me."

"I never left, Ollie. I'm still here," she whimpered. "I will always be here. But you need to let me go. And you need to let Thea go too. She already suffered enough. We all did. We don't need to suffer any longer."

"I'm so sorry, Sara." He looked at her in the eyes. He never forgot how beautiful her eyes were, bright and blue-grey. He never forgave himself for her death. "I never wanted you to die."

"Don't be sorry," she whispered. "I know this is not your fault. It's not Felicity's fault either. It's not anyone's fault. This was all Colton. You need to find him, Ollie, before it's too late. And guide Felicity. It's not just Slade that she needs, she needs you too. Don't abandon her. Please, Ollie. Promise me."

"I promise…Before you go, I want to ask you something—."

"Before I died, you were going to ask me something," Sara said, more tears going down her cheeks, "You never got the opportunity to ask. Ollie, I knew what you were going to ask me, even before that day. And no matter what, I will always say _yes_."

"Then let me ask you anyways," he said and got on his knees, holding her hand in his. He didn't have it with him. He wished he did. He looked up at her, trying to put his best smile. "Sara Lance, will you marry me?"

"…Yes," she said. Oliver stood up and embraced her once more. He couldn't feel her but he wanted to embrace her at least one last time. She whispered in his ear. "I love you, Ollie…Goodbye."

When Oliver opened his eyes, Sara was gone. He was now hugging empty air. _She's gone_ , he thought. He looked down on the floor and found a small object. A ring. His mother's ring, the same one he was going to propose Sara with. He kneeled on the floor and took the ring in his hand. It wasn't a hallucination. It was really Sara. That's when Oliver finally sobbed.

* * *

Slade sat in the parlour with the phone in his ear. Wintergreen was upstairs giving Rachel a bath while Felicity went out for a moment. He guessed she went to talk to Laurel. He didn't know why but decided to ask her once she returned home.

He waited until someone finally answered the phone. It was a woman, one he did not recognize. "Hello?"

" _Hello? Who is this?"_

"Hello, forgive me for calling at this hour but my name is Slade Wilson. Who is this?"

" _This is Patricia Trayce_ ," the woman said, " _Is there something you need_?"

"Forgive me for bothering you but is there a woman named Adeline Kane there?"

" _Adeline Kane?_ "

"Yes. If I'm not mistaken, she lives there or used to," he said. He wouldn't be surprised if Adeline moved out of the house after his apparent death.

"… _You mean Adeline Wilson Simmons?_ "

 _So that's her new husband's name? At least she kept the Wilson name_ , Slade thought. "Yes. Adeline Wilson Simmons. I'm her ex-husband."

" _Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson, but Adeline doesn't live here anymore_ ," Patricia said.

"Do you know her phone number or did she give an information I could use to contact her?" he asked. If Adeline sold the house, it was possible that she gave her phone number and email address to this Patricia woman.

"… _You mean you don't know_?" she asked.

"Well, it's been a long while since I've spoken to Adeline so I'm guessing she changed her phone —."

" _No. I mean…you don't know_."

Slade frowned at Patricia's words. _Know what?_

* * *

Felicity returned to the Merlyn Mansion after a long talk with Laurel. She was escorted back to the house by Slade's soldiers. _Slade, we really need to have a talk about your guys here_. If they were going to stay, they couldn't keep hovering her with guns every time she walked through the gate. Also, she needed to know their names. She didn't know any of their names. They needed to make a few adjustments if she and Rachel were going to stay. Once in the Merlyn Mansion, she nervously thanked the guards and continued her way. She hoped Rachel was in bed now. It was already 9: 59, fifty-nine minutes past her bedtime. If she found Rachel doing anything but sleeping, she'll have another serious talk with Slade and Wintergreen.

The mansion was dimly lit and for some reason a bit creepy. It was nighttime. Of course the mansion would look creepy at night.

"Slade?" she called for him.

She found him in the parlour, sitting on the armchair and staring into the fire glumly. The fire filled the parlour with a soft golden hue but made the room still look ominous. Felicity could tell that Slade was not happy for the way his inky eye lost its spark and the way his mouth thinned into a tight line. There was also an empty bottle of rum next to him. He drank the whole thing. Felicity was thankful for the Mirakuru not allowing him to be drunk. An angry drunk Mirakuru man was the last thing she needed after all this.

"Slade are you okay?" she asked carefully.

Slade slowly turned his head to look at her direction. "Forgive me, I didn't hear you enter."

"Is everything okay?" she asked, "You look upset."

"I went to check on Thea," he said. He never told Felicity about it and it surprised her. "She still held a grudge towards me for killing her mother but thanked us both for saving her life."

"Well, you can't expect her to forgive you right away, Slade," she said as she approached closer, "Give her time. At least she thanked you. That's a start. Maybe if you give her a bit of space, she'll come around."

"Don't worry, love, she'll have plenty of space from here on," Slade nearly chuckled but he didn't seem amused with himself.

"What do you mean?" she asked confusingly.

 **(Ruelle - _Where Do We Go From Here_ )**

"Thea is leaving Starling City, Felicity," he told her gravely. Felicity's eyes widened in surprise. "I bought her tickets so she can go anywhere she wants if she wanted to. To my surprise, she accepted my offer. She hesitated but accepted it. To be honest, I didn't think she would. Where is she going? I don't know and I don't think she wanted me to know. And there's a chance she didn't tell Oliver where she went. All I know is that Thea is gone. She left Starling City and she's never coming back."

"And you're upset because…"

"Because I know Oliver is going to pummel me for this. He'll know I encouraged Thea to leave and he'll drive another arrow through my good eye."

 _Like waking up_

Felicity sat down kneeling in front of him and placed her hand on his knee in comfort. "He'll have to understand. Thea went through a lot. If she decided to leave, it's not your fault. She made her choice. He's going to have to accept that. So I'm glad you did this for her. I'm just surprised you didn't say anything to me."

 _From a fantasy_

"I didn't want to upset you," he said.

 _And all that's left_

"I'm not upset. Just surprised. But you did a noble thing for her. You saved her life in more ways than one," she smiled softly at him but Slade didn't smile. He continued looking at the fire glumly. He still looked unsatisfied. "I'm guessing this is not the only thing that's making you upset, is it?"

 _Is you and me_

Slade leaned forward and took Felicity's hands. He cleared his throat. "I need to tell you something important."

 _We're invisible_

"Yes? Slade, you're starting to scare me."

 _In a violet sea_

"I called home, in Australia," he said. "I called Adeline."

 _Dare to move_

"You called her?" she asked, stunned. Another surprise she did not expect. She didn't think he would. But she was glad he did. Maybe he was going to tell her that they worked things out.

 _Dare to believe_

"Yes. Unfortunately, she was not there. She no longer lives there," he said.

"Oh. Well, maybe she moved out —."

 _W_ _here do we go from here_

"Felicity, my ex-wife is dead." As soon as he said that, everything fell silent. "A woman named Patricia Trayce answered the phone. She informed me that Adeline Wilson Simmons and her husband died in her house a few months ago. A robbery gone wrong and she was stabbed in the throat and her husband as well."

"Oh my God," Felicity gasped in shock, "Slade, I'm so sorry. And what about Joey?"

 _Where do we go from here_

"He's dead too," Slade said, "He was also caught in that robbery and died." He pinched the bridge of his nose and Felicity noticed he began to shake. He was crying. She had never seen him cry before. "My son is dead, Felicity. I killed him and Adeline too."

 _How do you fly with no wings  
How do you breathe without dreams _

Felicity shook her head in disbelief. Tears had also been filling up her eyes. She immediately sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him. Slade held her tightly and buried his face in the base of her neck, quietly sobbing.

 _Where do we go from here_

* * *

 **5 hours later…**

 **Blüdhaven, New Jersey**.

 _Changing when it echoes deep_

Thea was in Blüdhaven near Gotham City, New Jersey. It was the best place she could find. She wanted to leave the U.S. but she hesitated since she didn't know anything else outside the U.S. She could have gone to Italy but she didn't know Italian and the city would be so big that she could get lost in it. China? She didn't know Chinese or Cantonese. Prague? Again, she didn't know her way around it and she could get lost easily. Blüdhaven was the city she knew a bit. If she wanted to go somewhere else, she would do it. She booked a hotel room. It wasn't one of those five star hotels she used to stay in when she was a child and her parents had business to attend to and couldn't leave them with a babysitter. It wasn't one of those dirty degraded hotels either. The hotel was clean enough. Simple. But clean _and_ roomy.

 _Wearing thin the heart beneath_

Thea had decided to take a walk through the city. She was walking through the busier side of Blüdhaven, not wanting to do the same mistake of walking alone again. Never again did she want to have another encounter with Colton or any other guy that would try to snatch and kill her. And also this part of the city was brightly lit so she didn't have to worry about dark alleys and such. She missed Oliver now. She loved Oliver but couldn't stay in Starling City. She knew she would go crazy, or do something far worse, if she didn't leave Starling City. And as much as she hated Slade, she was grateful for the plane tickets he gave her.

 _And there's no place to call our own_

She went a nearby coffee shop where they sold _boba_ which is also known as bubble tea. She always liked bubble tea, especially the caramel-flavoured one. She also ordered a sandwich with it. Thea kept a scarf around her neck to hide the small abrasion and bruises the chains left on her. She didn't want anyone staring and wondering what happened to her.

 _Like a drifting haze we roam_

She sat down outside the shop on a chair in front of the tables with those giant umbrellas that hover over you and yellow Christmas lights around, and sipped her bubble tea. Part of her was glad of her decision of leaving Starling City while the other part was drawing her back like a magnet to a refrigerator. She didn't want to go back, not to that nightmare she was living. There was no reason for her to go back. _Don't make me go back._

"Thea?"

 _Where do we go from here_

Thea nearly dropped her half-unwrapped sandwich when she heard a voice calling to her, a voice that she immediately recognized.

"Thea, what are doing here?"

 _Where do we go from here_

Thea turned her head and her eyes widened when she saw Roy.

"Roy?" Roy Harper. He was here in Blüdhaven, staring at her in completely awe.

 _How do you fly with no wings_

Unable to control herself from the sudden emotions, Thea got up and bolted towards him. She jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Roy embraced her in return.

 _How do you breathe without dreams_

"How are you here?" he asked shock, "What happened? Holy fuck, what happened to your neck?" Roy had found the abrasion and bruises on her neck. Thea only responded that question by crying and burying her face into his neck. Roy kissed her head and held her in comfort. She went through a lot and she missed Roy. She was glad he was here. It meant she was no longer alone.

 _Where do we go from here_  
 _From here_

* * *

 **42 hours later…**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City**

"Okay, everyone, I suggest you all control your hormones and not lose your heads," Cisco continued saying as he led the Team Arrow, and Slade (since he was not part of the team yet) who was carrying Rachel in his arms, through the halls along with Barry, Caitlin, Dick and Dr. Wells. "because this is going to blow up your minds to smithereens."

They finally stopped at two large sliding doors that were closed shut.

"What's this all about, Cisco?" Slade asked. No one knew what was going on. They were called in to Central City. They arrived early in the morning to whatever Cisco called them for. Apparently, Cisco had something to show them.

"Well, I was thinking that since Felicity here needs a bit of help with her fighting skills, which suck by the way, no offense," Cisco said. Felicity pressed her lips together and nodded in agreement, "Maybe we can work as one big team and help her train. You know, together."

"That sort of makes sense, Cisco," Caitlin said, "But something tells me that this is not just about helping Felicity with fighting."

"Don't get her down, Caitlin," Cisco groaned in frustration, "Okay, maybe not entirely. I just have this great idea. Maybe we can all work together as one big team. One big family clan."

"Um, Cisco," Barry said, raising his hand up, "I know what you're going for but just between you and me, I just barely met this guy and I felt like he was going to kill me the first time we met." He was referring to Slade. Barry still hadn't forgotten the moment Slade scared the living hell out of him. "And I bet he's thinking about killing me right now just by the look on his face."

Slade was giving Barry the stink eye. He looked like he could punch Barry's head off with no problem. Felicity immediately elbowed him in the ribcage. "Easy, Slade."

"Thing is, Cisco, we barely know each other," Dr. Wells said.

"Well, that's why I brought you all here," Cisco said, "To work together and get to know each other. And let's be honest, I think we might need a bigger team, especially with Dream Warp running around the city doing God-knows-what."

"Dream Warp?" Diggle frowned. "What the hell is a Dream Warp?"

"Um, that's basically going to be Colton's codename," Cisco explained, "Dream Warp. You know, because he manipulates, distorts and alternates dreams. He basically warps them into —."

"Okay, Cisco, we get it," Oliver interrupted him. Oliver was still a bit upset about Thea leaving but hadn't brought up since then.

"I actually like the name, just not the guy who has it," Felicity said.

"So can we all agree for once that maybe my idea is not such a bad idea?" Cisco asked.

There was a moment of silence until everyone finally said _yes_. "If either of them give me a hard time, Cisco, they're not leaving this place alive." That was the only thing Slade said. Cisco would take that as a _yes_.

"What's in there?" Rachel asked meekly, pointing a finger at the metal doors in front of them.

"Well, I'm glad you asked." Cisco typed a few codes in the control panel, making small beeping sounds. Everyone was curious to know what was behind those doors as they kept waiting.

Finally, the metal doors slide open and everyone's eyes widened at the sight before them. Dr. Wells simply smirked smugly and so did Cisco.

Behind the door Cisco had just opened, there was an enormous room. The floor was completely open and wide. The walls were a dark shade of blue with white spotlights on the ceiling and rowing the wall in a single circle. Everyone felt like they were on some sort of UFO spacecraft. The floor had a large white circle with a control next to it for God-knows-what.

There were different types of obstacles and equipment filling the room, some of the team may recognize and some don't. There were fighting dummies at one side of the room placed neatly next to each other with each having a target on their chests. There was a salmon ladder in one part of the room, a wing chun dummy, punching bags, a detached climbing wall, something that looked like a giant hamster wheel and Escrima sticks sided in a rack and various types of weights. There were also smaller rooms shown through the large display windows that surrounded them as well. One of the smaller rooms had a treadmill and next to it was a heart-monitor; the other next to it having more treadmills but also tread climbers. The other small room was a dormitory. Another was possibly for lifting weights since it also had different types: dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, weight benches, Pull Up & Push up bars, racks and cages and Bulgarian bags. There were some rooms that were empty, probably still under modification. And there also gymnastic equipment like vault, pommel horse, balance beam, parallel bars, rings, horizontal bar, the spring board and the uneven bars.

The entire room looked like a more advanced and technological version of Planet Fitness.

"Oh...my...gosh," Felicity said complete amazement.

"You guys have to admit, this very freaking cool, right?" Cisco laughed. Even _he_ sounded excited for everyone's reaction. So far they were amazed, even Slade.

"Mr. Ramon, you have outdone yourself," Slade said and patted him on the shoulder. Cisco grinned and twisted his shoulder.

"Wow," Rachel gasped. She tried wiggling to get Slade to put her down which he did. She entered the room excitingly. "Cool."

"Careful, Rachel, don't touch anything yet," Felicity warned her. Rachel nodded and obediently stood in her place.

"Holy cow, Cisco, how long have you been doing this?" Dick asked in amazement.

"Well, Dr. Wells and I put it all together," Cisco said.

"Normally, we were going to use it for Barry only but since there are other metas out there," Dr. Wells said while looking at Felicity, "We figured we needed more than just a speedster helping us out."

"Cisco, you're like Hermione Granger who has that magic beaded bag that fits an entire house," Barry said. "I did not know S.T.A.R. Labs had this much space."

"Oh yes, I know that I'm amazing," Cisco said proudly with a bow. Dick simply chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Let's not get too cocky, Cisco," Caitlin said.

"Sorry," he said and clapped his hands together, "So, are we doing this or what?"

Everyone looked at each other, as if they were debating with their minds. That was something that annoyed Cisco. He wasn't a mind reader to know what they were thinking. Then everyone agreed.

"Are you sure about this, love?" Slade whispered in Felicity's ear.

"Who knows? It might be fun," she said as she watching Rachel jumping on the white circle as if it were a trampoline. "I just want to catch my father. And I can't do it alone. Not without Ollie, Dig or you."

"You're lucky then," Slade smiled softly, "because you're not alone."

"And neither are you," she said. After learning about what happened to Adeline and Joey, Slade wasn't the happiest man on earth right now. Who would be? His ex-wife and child were dead for over 3 months and he didn't even know it. But he was still holding on as always. Felicity was trying make sure he was okay and that he didn't become reckless. He seemed fine so far but there was no telling what could happen. She would be there for him just as he had been there for her.

"Well, guys, let's get started," Oliver said. And everyone got to work.

* * *

 **Author's Note: There we go. Part 3 of the chapter is done. I decided not to kill Thea since she has already suffered through a lot of shit and thought that the best thing that could have been done is let her live and give her a happy ending by encountering Roy in Blüdhaven and finally reconciling. Colton kidnapping Thea was essentially written to prove a point, meaning that he can hurt anyone he wanted and not give a damn about it as long as it got him attention. Cruel? Right? Yeah, it is. JUST AS CRUEL AS NEGAN FROM _THE WALKING DEAD_! F***! WHY!?**

 **Anyways, thanks a lot for reading and thanks to everyone who followed and favoured this story. You guys are just wonderful people. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter. There will be another chapter posted very soon.**


	37. Chapter 37: Combat and Bruises

**I think many of you have been waiting for this moment to come for a long time now. Yes, I'm talking about the training scenes in this fanfiction I know followers have been asking for. The song I'll be using for this one is _Welcome to the Jungle_ by Guns n' Roses. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

 **First Week of Training. 8: 23 a.m.**

"Okay, everyone, let's get started," Cisco said through the microphone on the other side of the glass where he, Caitlin, Rachel and Dr. Wells watched while Oliver, Diggle, Felicity, Slade, Barry and Dick were standing in the training room that was built for them. "We're going to start with the basic training for those who have never punched anyone before and I'm talking to you, Missy." He was referring to Felicity. "Flash, you're going to be running around through the tubes. We're going to test how fast you can go. If your heartrate is going too fast and high then you can stop before you disappear into another dimension." Barry nodded in agreement. He was already in his Flash suit which Slade criticized it as looking ridiculous. "Slade, if I hear you criticizing my suit one more time, I'm taking that eyepatch of yours and flushing it down the toilet. We're going to test how fast you can deflect a moving object. Let's say arrows being shot at you."

"You're not actually going to let Oliver shoot me, are you?" Slade asked darkly without turning to look at Cisco. Slade was in his Deathstroke suit but was not wearing the mask.

"Cisco, if Slade rips my arm off, I'm blaming you," Oliver stated. He was also wearing his Arrow uniform. Felicity was wearing the Black Canary suit. Diggle simply wore a bulletproof vest since he didn't have a costume yet. Barry was in his Flash suit. And Dick was wearing his Nightwing suit.

"Cisco, could you please take off the jacket," Caitlin insisted, "It's almost 80 degrees in here."

"Really? Because to me it feels cold. I ain't taking off the jacket." He returned his attention to the team. "Don't worry, Mr. Queen, you won't be shooting Slade," Cisco assured. "You'll be shooting those dummies at the back. I have to warn you though, they move...a lot. Slade, as for you, you're going to be shot by a machine full of arrows so you don't need to worry about killing Oliver plus they're plastic." He then mumbled. "I'm just worried he'll decide to kill me. Felicity, you're going to start climbing lessons."

"You mean the wall over there?" Felicity asked, pointing at the climbing wall.

"Yep. Warning, the rocks on the wall retract themselves so I recommend you keep changing position every now and then. Be glad there's a mat beneath so you won't end up like a pancake," he said. "Oh and no harnesses."

"That's not very reassuring, Cisco," Slade grumbled.

"It's not supposed to be reassuring, Slade. That's the point of training here. Dick, you're fighting holograms on the simulator."

"You mean that white circle in the middle?" Dick asked. Five assassins showed up carrying katanas, already waiting for him. "I'm just calling it _fighting ring_."

"Yes, that's the one. And Mr. Diggle. Boy, do I have something special for you to do," Cisco said. He pressed a button and a giant elf-like robot came out from one of the doors, carrying two Eskrima sticks in his hands. "You get to fight my friend Sampson over there."

"Aw man, I hope my insurance covers up robot attacks," Diggle said as he picked up two of his own Eskrima sticks from the rack.

"Don't worry, he's perfectly safe. He's a reprogrammed Amazo, so he won't kill you. I hope," Cisco's voice squeaked when he said that. "Just think Will Smith in the iRobot film."

"Oh yeah right, because I'm black," Diggle argued. The others simply laughed.

"Come on, guys, let's take this seriously," Cisco said. "We're starting in ten seconds. 10..."

"I'm so going to die," Felicity mumbled.

"9...8...7...6"

Arrow, Black Canary, Deathstroke, Nightwing, Flash and Diggle got into their positions as Cisco continued counting down.

"3...2...and...1. Go!" And there they went into different directions, all except for Deathstroke who took out his sword and began deflecting the arrows that were being shot at him per second, the arrows bouncing off the silver blade.

Black Canary ran towards the wall, only for another wall, smaller than the other, to pop up from the floor and making her jump back with a startled cry. "Cisco!" she snapped.

"Oh, sorry," Cisco apologized immediately, "I forgot to tell you that you have to jump over another wall to get to the main wall. Imagine the wall is a house on fire and you need to jump over the fence."

"Oh well, thanks a lot!" she said sarcastically. She took a step back and tried to jump over the wall. She couldn't lift herself up over it.

"Shouldn't anyone be helping her?" Barry asked as he began running through the tubes in lightning speed, the tubes making whooshing sounds.

"Oh, I almost forgot the rules. The most important one. No help," Cisco said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Diggle said as he was being attacked by the tall elf-like robot. It kept swinging the Eskrima sticks with force. Diggle kept dodging them by leaning back his torso, jumping and ducking. The robot was fast. It almost made it impossible for Diggle to attack back.

Arrow was shooting at the wooden dummies that were moving sideways. 10 dummies. He hit three of the dummies but then began to switch and shift from their place. Arrow was about to shoot another one but it moved quickly and his arrow hit a wall instead of the target. "Seriously?" He shot his arrows but the dummies began to move faster. Arrow cursed between his teeth and continued shooting.

"No one said this was going to be easy," Cisco laughed in amusement.

"I can't believe you gave that thing a name," Caitlin said, referring to the robot Diggle was fighting. "You know that's an Amazo, right?"

"Yeah, but then I reprogrammed it and named him Sampson," Cisco said as he chewed on a piece of cherry licorice. He then leaned forward and pressed a green button on the controller, "How about a little music to get them pumping?"

Cisco pressed a green button and _Welcome to the Jungle_ by Guns n' Roses began to play.

"Is Mama okay?" Rachel asked worriedly. She was sitting on the chair, drawing on the paper on a clipboard Caitlin gave her.

"Don't worry, Rachel, Felicity will be fine," Dr. Wells assured her and smiled at her. Of course, Rachel didn't smile back. She stared blankly at him as if she was looking right through him. As if she could see something in him that no one else could. Dr. Wells ignored her stare and shrugged it off as shyness. "I'll be busy checking for more metahumans."

"You're not staying?" Cisco asked. "Come on, I'm already setting a bet. My money's on Deathstroke."

"You're betting on the assassin that tried to kill us?" Caitlin asked in disbelief.

"Yep," Cisco nodded, "He's a better fighter and I think he can beat any of these guys any day." Of course, Dr. Wells already wheeled out of the control room.

"Thank you, Cisco!" Slade shouted.

 _Welcome to the Jungle!_

It took Felicity more than a minute to finally push herself over the smaller wall and fell flat on the mat when she climbed over to the other side. She quickly scrambled onto her feet from the mat and ran to the big wall. She struggled to start climbing out the wall but managed to pull herself up. She gritted her teeth as she tried to climb, her gloved hands grasping tightly at the stones attached to the wall as well as he booted feet trying to keep balance. She only managed to climb 5 feet off the ground when the stone under her left foot retreated back into the wall and she fell, landing on the mat with a loud _thump_. Felicity laid there on the mat, moaning and rubbing her butt to ease the pain she was feeling right now. A voice could be heard echoing through the training room, a voice that would be heard in a _Mortal Kombat_ game: BLACK CANARY LOSES. POINTS: 4.5

 _We got fun n' games_

"Oooh," Cisco hissed, "Fatality right there. That's going to leave a mark."

"Is she okay?" Rachel asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine," Cisco said but immediately spoke through the microphone. "Are you okay there, Felicity?"

"I'm good," she gave him a thumb's up. "I'll need an ice-pack though."

 _We got everything you want_

"See? She's fine," Cisco assured Rachel with a shrug of his shoulders.

Oliver continued shooting at the moving targets. They were moving faster and faster by the minute, and it was getting even more difficult to hit the targets. "Hey, whoa whoa!" he exclaimed when the dummies began to surround him and move around in circles. "Cisco! What the hell!?"

 _Honey we know the names!_

"It's part of the training, don't worry," Cisco said through the microphone, "If you don't hit all ten targets, the dummies will send an electrical jolt that will shock you unconscious. Sorry if that slipped my mind."

"Are you freaking kidding me with this!?" Oliver exclaimed as he continued shooting the moving dummies. He only managed to hit eight targets when the dummies joined together in a circle and shocked Oliver. He was now lying on the floor, shaking and convulsing. ARROW LOSES. POINTS: 8.9

 _We are the people that can find_

Slade noticed this and tried very hard not to chuckle or smirk, knowing that any distraction can lead to his defeat with the machine shooting arrows at him. They said that _karma is a bitch_. He continued deflecting the arrows with his sword, swinging it sideways and the arrows bouncing off the blade repeatedly.

Diggle continued fighting off the robot that kept attacking him with everything it got, the Eskrima sticks making loud clanking sounds as Diggle tries to take the robot down. But it was fast and skillful, almost human like. It almost felt like he was fighting Oliver. "ACCESS: DEATHSTROKE," the robot suddenly said before it began to attack Diggle more violently now.

 _Whatever you may need._

"Holy shit!" Diggle cursed. He ducked when the robot swung its Eskrima stick with more force now and it tried to slam into Diggle. Luckily, Diggle rolled away and the robot crashed into a nearby wall. The fight last more than five minutes, mostly Diggle trying to avoid getting hit by the murderous robot, until he was slipped like a sack and slammed against the mat. The robot then hit Diggle in the abdomen with the stick, knocking the wind right out of him. Diggle now laid there, wheezing in pain, while the robot shut down by itself. JOHN DIGGLE LOSES. POINTS: 6.7.

 _If you got the money_

"How are you going to explain that to his wife?" Caitlin asked.

"Ex-wife and I'm sure she won't notice," Cisco said though he didn't seem so sure of that. "At least he got more points than Felicity."

 _Honey_

The only people that made it to the end were Deathstroke and Nightwing. Nightwing managed to defeat all of the holographic assassins and Deathstroke deflected all of the arrows that were shot at him. Unfortunately, Barry came out of the tubes all covered in blue putty. Deathstroke and Nightwing stared at Barry in surprise.

 _We got your disease_

DEATHSTROKE WINS. POINTS: 10.

NIGHTWING WINS. POINTS: 10.

FLASH LOSES. POINTS: 8.2

Barry shouted: "8.2, really? I was only running."

 _In the Jungle_

"You were supposed to avoid getting plastered," Cisco said through the microphone and Barry gave him the middle finger. Cisco checked Barry's heart-rate. 145 above the normal heart rate. Cisco knew that wasn't a good sign and would have to talk to Barry about it.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

Meanwhile Slade went to help Felicity who was still lying on the floor. She was looking up at the ceiling. Slade looked down at her and shook his head in disappointment. "You are hopeless, Felicity Megan Smoak."

"Oh shut up, Slade Joseph Wilson," she bit back but she was too tired to fight with him. Climbing the wall took a toll on her. She extended her arm. "Help me up, please."

 _Watch it bring it to your_

"Why should I? Help yourself," Slade chuckled with his arms crossed.

"Because if you don't, you're not getting my vagina tonight," she whispered. With that, Slade helped her up from the floor without objecting. It was bribery but it worked.

 _Knees_

The others were now a bit ticked off with Cisco for him not giving a full heads up on their training, mostly Oliver since _he_ was the one who get electrocute by the dummies. Now he was shaking like a Chihuahua. Felicity ended up limping since her ass still hurt after falling. She would definitely have bruises and would need an ice pack for that. Right now, everyone was glaring at Cisco with arms crossed. However, Rachel was drawing and listening to music so she wasn't noticing a thing. Caitlin quickly walked out and left Cisco alone to help himself. Dick simply stood in the corner with a smug look on his face and arms crossed. Cisco simply gulped at the 5 annoyed vigilantes frowning at him.

 _Knees_.

"Ooops?" Cisco smiled. It was more a scared smile.

"...Oops. Are you freaking kidding me..."

"...That robot could have killed me..."

"...You gave me an electrical shock..."

"...Why didn't you tell me there was another wall coming my way? I could have crashed into it..."

Everyone was snapping at him all the same time. Cisco simply hid his face behind papers, his cheeks turned red but inside, he was laughing. He didn't mean to make them mad but it was really funny seeing their reactions. It was beyond hilarious.

 _I want to watch you bleed_.

* * *

"Okay, Felicity, we're going to test that Canary cry of yours," Cisco said. He and the others remained behind the glass with earbuds in their ears while Felicity stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by mirrors. There were twelve mirrors. "You have twelve mirrors around you. You only need to break one. We're practicing trajectory."

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

Felicity nodded. She waiting for Cisco to tell her when to scream. "3...2...1..." he said. "Go!"

 _We take it day by day_

Felicity screamed. She not only broke one mirror. She broke all twelve plus the window the others stood behind in. When it cracked they all jumped back. Slade hid Rachel behind his back just in case the window broke. Luckily, it didn't.

 _If you want_

"Hey," Cisco snapped through the microphone, "These windows are not cheap, you know -."

"I'm sorry," Felicity apologized, "But I can't control the frequency or distance."

 _You're gonna bleed_

Cisco put some thought into it until he finally came up with an idea. "Maybe we can make a device that will help you control your scream."

"Like a collar?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah, like a collar," he said, "We can build a collar that can control the range, the frequency and volume of your scream."

"That's actually not a bad idea, Cisco," Oliver said. Diggle nodded in agreement.

 _But it's the price you pay_

Slade chuckled. "So if she starts nagging at me, I can simply use the collar to tune her out."

Glaring in annoyance, Felicity gave Slade the middle finger before walking out of the room. Slade laughed deeply.

 _And you're a very sexy girl_

* * *

 _Very hard to please_

"Okay, next is combat training," Cisco said.

"Do we have to do that obstacle thing again?" Barry groaned in annoyance. "I really don't want to get puttied again."

 _You can taste the bright lights_

Cisco smiled mischievously. "Um, no, you guys will be fighting each other."

Felicity's eyes widened and looked at Slade who was giving her a cocky smirk. He was definitely going to get her during combat.

 _But you won't get there for free_

* * *

 **Arrow vs Diggle**

Both Oliver and Diggle stood at the white circle in fighting positions, waiting for Cisco to give the signal.

ROUND 1! FIGHT!

 _In the Jungle_

"Hey, what's with the Mortal Kombat thing?" Diggle asked when all of them heard the speaker go off.

Before Cisco could answer him, Oliver already began to advance at Diggle but Diggle quickly punched Oliver in the face and flipped him to the floor.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

DIGGLE WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

"You ain't getting me this time, man," Diggle chuckled. Oliver groans in pain but swung his leg at Diggle's feet, knocking him down to the floor as well.

ARROW WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY

 _Feel my, my_

* * *

 **Arrow vs Deathstroke**

 _My serpentine_

"This is for you making my sister leave Starling City, Slade," Oliver growled as and Slade circled around the floor like lions about to tear each apart. Apparently, that's what they were at the moment. Felicity couldn't interfere in the fight, or anyone else for that matter. It was a one-on-one fight. She and the others simply watched, hoping that Oliver didn't kill Slade. She was more worried about Oliver than Slade though, knowing how strong he is. He can easily break Oliver's neck in one twist even if unintentionally.

 _I want to hear you scream_

"She decided it herself, kid," Slade said, "I didn't make her do anything. Let's leave this all behind us. Your sister is happy and safe wherever she is."

"She was safe with me."

"Tell her that yourself when she comes back," Slade smirk.

Oliver charged at Slade and attempted to punch him in the face. Slade grabbed his wrist and flipped Oliver to the floor. At the other side of the training room, Felicity and Rachel gasped in shock. Growling in anger, Oliver jumped back to his feet, punched Slade in the gut and elbowed his face. Slade punched Oliver in the gut as well, knocking the wind right out of him before kneeing him beneath the jaw and knocking him down to the ground.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

Oliver laid there on the ground defeated.

DEATHSTROKE WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

 _It gets worse here every day_

* * *

 **Flash vs Deathstroke**

 _You learn to live_

There were no words to describe the fight between Barry and Slade. Other than pathetic, it was stupid. Barry was like a kid, not taking things seriously. He kept running around Slade while babbling like an idiot about the weather or how Cisco could upgrade his eyepatch. Eventually, Slade got tired of Barry's stupidity and anticipated his approach before bringing up his arm and Barry simply crashed into Slade's fist.

 _Like an animal_

"Ow," Barry moaned while holding his bloody nose.

"You talk too much, kid," Slade growled before getting off the fighting ring.

 _In the jungle_

DEATHSTROKE WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

 _Where we play_

* * *

 **Deathstroke vs Diggle**

"Oh hell no, I'm not fighting this guy," Diggle protested as he was technically pushed into the fighting ring by Felicity and Oliver. Slade smirked, knowing that he was going to have a lot of fun with John Diggle.

 _If you got a hunger_

Cisco shook his head. "You have to. That's the entire point of training. Everyone here has to participate."

"Including me?" Rachel asked innocently, raising her head.

 _For what you see_

"No," everyone said at the same time.

"Hey, speaking of everyone, where's Nightwing?" Barry asked as he looked around but there was no sign of Dick Grayson anywhere.

 _You'll take it eventually_

"Don't worry, he's coming back," Cisco said while working behind the controllers, "He said he had to pick up something and would be right back."

"Yeah, he ain't coming back," Oliver groaned in pain as he sat back down on the bench.

 _You can have anything you want_

"Nah. He'll come back," Cisco said assuring.

"I'm telling you, I ain't fighting this guy," Diggle kept protesting, "I have an ex-wife and an unborn kid to take care of."

 _But you better not take it from me_

"Holy shit, you're having a kid, that's awesome!" Barry exclaimed excitedly.

ROUND 1! FIGHT!

"Slade, please don't leave Lyla a widow or the baby fatherless," Felicity nearly pleaded as she watched both Slade and Diggle circle around the spot, Diggle already getting ready to make a run for it.

 _In the Jungle_

Slade advanced at Diggle, throwing a punch at him. Diggle ducked down to avoid the punch before delivering a sucker-punch beneath the jaw. Slade staggered back but got back in balance and swung a kick a Diggle's head. Diggle ducked again and tried to deliver another punch to the jaw but Slade anticipated this and flipped Diggle to the ground hard just as he did with Oliver and gave Diggle a punch in the face.

DEATHSTROKE WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

"That's it," Diggle groaned before bringing up his foot and striking Slade in the groin. Slade yelled out in pain and dropped to the ground, holding himself.

"Oooh, ow," Cisco cringed, "Ow, right in the nuts. Ow."

Oliver tried very hard not to burst into laughter but couldn't help himself and ended up laughing. So did Barry. Caitlin put a hand over her mouth to hold the laughter. Felicity and Rachel simply stared in shock.

 _Watch it bring you to your_

"I think Dig just castrated my boyfriend," she said.

"What's castration?" Rachel asked. Felicity stared down at the little girl with wide eyes. She almost forgot that Rachel didn't know what castration was or parts of the human body. She now realized she would need all the luck she could get to explain to Rachel what a period was before she turned twelve. The last thing Felicity needed was a real life Carrie White case.

 _Knees_

"I'll tell you when you're at least nine, okay, Rachel?"

"Yes," Rachel nodded in agreement.

 _Knees_

"Oh, by the way, guys," Diggle grunted, "We're having twins."

Everyone looked at Diggle in shock. "Twins?" Oliver asked. "Oh my God," Felicity excitedly.

Slade patted Diggle on the shoulder. "Congratulations."

"All right, Felicity, you're up next," Cisco announced.

 _I'm gonna watch you plead._

Felicity's face went pale when Cisco said that and thoughts of a 1000 ways to die swam in her head.

* * *

 **Black Canary vs Arrow**

Felicity was put on the ring with Oliver since Diggle was taking a breather while Slade was having his dick and testicles iced from the kick Diggle gave him. Caitlin took Rachel out of the room so she wouldn't have to see this. Cisco already put up the new rule in the training room: No Kicking or Punching the Genital Areas of your Opponent during Training. So technically, Felicity couldn't kick or punch Oliver in the dick to win the fight. It was something she wouldn't do plus it was now considered cheating in the training room.

 _And when you're high_

"Don't worry, Felicity, I'll be taking it easy on you," Oliver assured her.

"Taking it easy won't help her fight, kid," Slade groaned while holding the ice pack between his legs. He was sitting next to Diggle. "I can't believe you dare kick me there," he muttered.

 _You never_

"I thought you had that Mirakuru thing," Diggle said in his defense.

"Mirakuru, not pain reliever," Slade hissed.

"Sorry."

 _Ever want to come down._

"Slade is right, you know," Felicity said to Oliver as they got into fighting position, "There's no way I'm going to learn if you take it easy on me. So don't try to hold back...Ever."

ROUND 1. FIGHT

Fighting Oliver wasn't as bad as fighting Slade but it was still pretty. She asked Oliver not to hold back and that's exactly what he was doing. He attacked her with everything he had. Oliver had already beaten her in two rounds. She knew that the third round wouldn't do much better.

 _So down_

She tried to deliver a straight punch to Oliver's abdomen like Sara taught her but Oliver grabbed her by the upper arm and flipped her to the ground again. Of course, when he did so, Felicity's leg flew over to Oliver's neck, hooking itself around it and bringing Oliver down to the ground along with her.

So down

From a distance, Slade smirked proudly at her technique, even if she didn't planned it. If she was able to take Oliver down that way, then she wasn't completely hopeless.

 _So down_

Felicity had Oliver down on the floor, his neck and head trapped between her her thighs. Her legs were almost thin so she lacked strength when it came to holding onto Oliver and keeping him down. But she tried. She squeezed hard and Oliver growled as she struggled to get out of Felicity's hold.

 _Yeah!_

Oliver then brought his foot up and kicked Felicity in the lower spine, causing her to cry out and loosening her hold on Oliver. Oliver easily slipped out of her hold and punched her in the gut before getting up.

ARROW WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY

Slade chuckled at this and shook his head. The short victory was lived while it lasted.

* * *

"I don't think this is working out," Felicity hissed as Slade pressed an ice pack to her lower back where a large bruise was forming.

"The training or our relationship?" Slade said, hoping that it wasn't the second answer.

"The training," she said with her teeth gritting and chuckled through her nose, "Don't worry. Our relationship is working just fine. I'm just saying, fighting isn't working out for me."

"You're not giving up, are you?" Slade asked.

"Fuck no," Felicity said. She was glad Rachel was outside the infirmary and not listening to her curse, "Not after all I've been through. I've come all this way and I almost beat Oliver. Almost. I am not giving this one up."

Slade smiled. "Good. Because I'm not going to let you give up."

"I just can't seem to fight no matter how much I try," she sighed, "I don't have the strength to punch you guys in the face. My hands are small and not strong enough."

"That's because you need training, love," Slade explained, "Extensive and rough training. You wish to take down one of us one day, you would have to continue doing this every day for the rest of your life until you finally build up strength."

Felicity chuckled. "Then I probably have some work to do."

Slade smiled softly and patted her head. He attempted to pat her back but she was already bruised from the kick Oliver gave her. "I was thinking," he said, "That maybe after we finish this, you and I can go out for dinner."

 _You know where you are?_

"You mean like a date? An actual date?" Felicity smiled at him.

"Yes," he smiled in return.

"I would love to," she said.

Smiling softly, Slade leaned down and kissed her. Oh how desperately he wanted to make love to her right here in the infirmary but he couldn't, knowing that he would simply be interrupted by Diggle, or Slade or possibly Cisco.

 _You're in the jungle, baby_

"How am I going to learn how to fight if I can barely climb a wall?" Felicity sighed in deception as she laid back down on the medical bed. Slade continued pressing the ice pack against her throbbing back. She hissed.

"Learn the pressure points of your opponent, love. Lie down on your back and you'll see what I mean."

Felicity nodded before turning to lie down on her back. She slapped away his hand when he started poking her nose. "What the hell?"

 _You gonna die_

"Punch the nose and the eyes, it messes up the sense and distracts the opponent," he said. And then placed his hand around her neck. "You punch them in the neck, it will disrupt breathing, talking and the spinal cord." Slade took her arm and poked at the crook between the lower and upper arm. "The inner elbow. Punch or kick it, it will cause dislocation." He placed his hand below her breasts. "The Solar Plexus. It's difficult to hit but very effective for breaking ribs or any other bones protecting the vital organs."

"Like the heart and the lungs?"

Slade nodded. "Exactly. Now, the liver right here just below the Solar Plexus will cause your opponents to become dizzy or lose breath. If you hit them in the kidney, it might cause them to urinate blood."

Felicity made a face at this. "That's disgusting."

Slade chuckled and gave her playful smirk while putting his hand on her knees. "Now, the knees, you'll be able to knock down your opponent with just the right kick. And as for the thighs." His hand slowly slide down her inner and Felicity bite her lower lip, her face slightly flushed. "The thighs has plenty of pressure points which will help you distract your opponent. And the groin." Slade placed his hand on the groin area between her legs. "I think you know how much it will hurt your opponents."

"You mean for the opponents that don't wear protection cups during training," Felicity teased. Slade frowned at her in annoyance. He didn't need to be reminded of the stunt Diggle pulled on him in the fighting ring. But Felicity simply laughed because of the look on his face when she brought it up.

* * *

 **Black Canary vs Diggle**

 _In the jungle_

"Are you sure you don't want me to take it easy on you, Felicity?" Diggle asked as both he and Felicity got into the fighting ring and positioned themselves into a fighting stance. "Oliver took you down pretty hard."

Oliver and the others sat their on the benches, watching them both. Slade kept glaring at him and no one knew why. "I thought you said not to take it easy on her and I simply did what the two of you told me to do," Oliver muttered with batting an eye or looking over at Slade.

 _Welcome to the jungle_

"Yes, but when I was healing her, I found that you almost dislocated her lower spinal cord," Slade growled. "Another kick and she would never be able to walk again. I had to put her spine back into place to avoid any more damages."

 **(Hint, hint)**

"Sorry," Oliver said.

 _Watch it bring you to your_

Felicity and Diggle began fighting. It took five minutes of dodging before Diggle had Felicity in a chokehold. Felicity suddenly elbowed him in the gut (right in the Solar Plexus), grabbed him by the arm and flipped him down to the ground.

BLACK CANARY WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

 _Knees_

Dig laid there on the mat disoriented and Felicity placed a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Holy shit," Oliver said in astonishment. Everyone looked at Felicity in shock, including Diggle after recovering from his daze.

 _Knees_

Felicity then squealed and started hopping around like a crazed bunny before running over to Slade embraced him tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Good. You're learning," Slade chuckled as he embraced her in return.

"How long did it take you to teach her that?" Oliver asked in astonishment.

 _In the jungle_

"15 minutes in the infirmary," Slade said.

"Hey, guys, Dick's back and with some kind of dwarf," Cisco said with squinted eyes as Dick approached the training room still in his Nightwing suit. Behind him was a short figure. It wasn't a dwarf though. It was a boy dressed in black, red, green and yellow.

 _Welcome to the Jungle -_ Cisco pressed the button and the music turned off.

"Hey, Nightwing, you missed combat practice!" Cisco called out from the spot, "Black Canary just beat John Diggle's ass today."

"Is it too late to say that I let her win?" Diggle groaned as he pushed himself up from the floor. Oliver walked over to him and patted his shoulder.

"It's too late," Oliver said.

"Sorry I was late for the fun, guys," Dick apologized as he approached the fighting ring with the weirdly dressed kid behind him. "But I had to pick up something from Gotham. Something that might help us during training, especially you Black Canary." Felicity detached herself from Slade and the two of them listened up. Dick smirked as he took a step aside, revealing a ten year old boy dressed in red, black and green with black paddings on the elbows and knees, a black eye mask and a dark hooded cloak. He's taller than Rachel but a bit too short to be twelve or eleven. "This is Robin. Batman's associate. I asked him to help us out in our little fun and he agreed to it."

"Man, are you serious?" Diggle asked, "We're not fighting a ten-year-old. Hell, we don't even fight Rachel over there."

Rachel looked above from her drawing when she heard her name being mentioned but realizing that it was nothing for her to be concerned about, she went back to drawing.

"Oh, I can assure you he fights," Dick said, "He's the greatest fighter I've seen in years, trained by the leader of the League of Assassins himself Ra's alhul Ghul."

"Ra's al Ghul?" Oliver said.

"Never heard of him," Barry shook his head.

"You should," the boy growled as if the words were offensive somehow. Nightwing placed a hand on Robin's shoulder as a way to hold him back from attacking.

"Easy there, Robin."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Dick?" Cisco asked, "I don't know if I feel comfortable letting the guys fight a kid."

"It's totally fine. I spoke to the Big Bats himself and it took me five hours to convince him," Dick said, "So there's no way of saying _no_ to this. Besides, you're never going to get a better fighter like him."

"Ahem," Slade cleared his throat and raised his hand up, "Right here."

Robin chuckled darkly. "We'll see about that." The boy then said something to Slade but in a different language, something no one understood.

"What did he say?" Felicity asked.

"It's Arabic," Diggle answered.

"He said that I'm _dead meat_ ," Slade explained with a smirk, "I like challenges."

"Okay, guys, we're getting back to training!" Cisco reminded them with a shout. "We're taking five so hydrate and stretch. And please wear protection cups in your pants this time, people, please."

Cisco left the training room along with Caitlin to get bottles of water. Diggle went for the punching bags to warm up for the next fight, Barry went running through the tubes as fast as he can. Oliver went to train in the salmon ladder.

"Come here, love," Slade took Felicity by the hand and took her to the area of the gymnastics equipment. "You are going to learn to build up strength. You did well. But not good enough."

"Barely good," the boy Robin spoke up snarking, "What you taught her was basic training. I learned more than military combat by the age of 3. At this rate, she doesn't even have a chance to stay alive if she ever confronts a member of the League."

"Well, at your age, I learned to respect elders so maybe you should start learning as well," Slade said as he almost approached him if Felicity hadn't stopped him.

"Slade, easy," she said, "Remember, he's a child. Besides, Rachel is here."

Slade let out a deep growl but took a step back and let it be.

Chuckling, Robin took off his hood and placed it down on the bench. Felicity's eyes widened when she recognized the black hair and greenish blue eyes. "Damian?"

Robin looked at Felicity in surprise. "Miss Smoak?"

Felicity then looked at Dick in shock. "Bruce Wayne's ward is Robin?"

"The executive assistant of Queen's Consolidated is Black Canary?" Robin said.

Dick looked at them both, not knowing what to say to each of them. He was dumbfounded.

Felicity began stuttering uncontrollably. "So, wait, if he's...And that means Mr. Wayne is...Oh God."

With that, Felicity dropped on the mat, passing out.

"I told you only idiots would fall for an eye piece mask, you dumbass," Damian snarled at Dick while Slade and now Rachel were trying to wake Felicity up.

* * *

 **Black Canary vs Deathstroke** (I know some of you were waiting for this part)

 _In the Jungle_

Now the moment of Felicity fighting Slade had been looking forward were to it for awhile. Felicity, on the other hand, _feared_ for that very moment to come. Slade had already warned her that he wouldn't take it easy on her so he was simply keeping his part of the bargain.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

Felicity was learning so far. She already knew how to dodge the punches and kicks. And already knew the weak spots just like he told her. She punched Slade in the kidney, only to remember that Slade's body was full of Mirakuru. _Oh shit_.

Slade advanced at her. Felicity ducked and escaped through the space between his legs and turned around to kick him in the butt. Slade stumbled forward and Damian's mocking laughter could be heard from the other side of the training room.

 _Feel my,_

Felicity jumped back to her feet and braced herself in her fighting stance again. Slade slowly turned around to face her and gave her his most devilish smirk. _Oh fuck. Oh shit. Oh fuck_.

He advanced at her again. Felicity had to think fast and she did. When Slade charged after her, she quickly placed her hands on his shoulders and flipped over him, falling to the floor on her stomach and kicked her foot at his ankles, knocking him down to the ground. She took the opportunity to jab her foot down at his abdomen. Slade didn't even cringe. Felicity got up and attempted to give him another blow with her elbow this time but Slade grabbed her arm and threw her back down to the floor.

 _My serpentine_

He straddled on top of her and brought down a fist to hit her in the face. Felicity grabbed the fist before they made contact and punched Slade in the nose.

Slade grabbed her by her blonde locks and pulled her head back. She groaned and gritted her teeth.

 _Jungle_

"Do you give up?" Slade growled at her.

"Nope," she hissed and she gave him a direct punch in the good eye. She punched him in the eye again and again until he was finally off her. Slade yelled as he held a hand to his good eye. Felicity jumped back to her feet and took the opportunity of Slade's distraction to attack him from behind and began to elbow the back of his head.

 _Welcome to the Jungle_

Even blinded at the moment, Slade managed to grab Felicity's arm again, flipped her off his back and slammed to the floor. Felicity now laid there immobile and grunting in pain.

DEATHSTROKE WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY. FATALITY.

Slade helped pull her up from the ground. Felicity gasped when she saw him bleeding from the eye. "Oh god, Slade."

 _Watch it bring it to your_

"It's all right. It will heal," Slade assured her. He sighed before grabbing a towel and pressing it to his bloody eye. Felicity took his hand and guided him to sit down on the bench.

 _Knees_

Felicity looked at the blood-stained towel and at his bloody eye, and she began to tear up, burying her face into her hands.

 _Knees_

"Why are you crying?" Slade asked as he heard her quiet sobs. "You did well. You're learning how to fight and best of all, you're learning to hold your own weight."

"I hurt you," she said.

 _Down in the jungle_

"Don't start whining, please," Slade chuckled, "Oliver is enough."

Oliver objected. "Hey, I don't whine that much."

 _Welcome to the jungle_

If Slade could see right now, he would glare at Oliver. Right now, he simply chuckled and smirked. "You want a bet? I can count the many times you whined at me during training."

"Slade, I'm sorry," Felicity kept apologizing.

"Don't be. Do you know how many people are able to blind me during a fight? None. You're the first. I'm proud of you," Slade smiled. Felicity smiled back softly and kissed him. She really hoped his eye would heal before their first date.

* * *

 **Robin vs... Everyone.**

 _Watch it bring it to your_

No one was getting out alive when it came to fighting. Felicity was the first one he took down. Damian found her to be too easy to take down; he expected more of a challenge. The second person he managed to take down was Diggle with a punch to the gut and a knee to the jaw. Barry was fast but a a huge talkative and very easy to detect. Damian ended up taking him down by throwing him tear gas, which blinded the speedster and Barry ended up crashing into the climbing wall. Oliver Queen was a bit of a challenge; he was clearly more prepared than the rests. But it was not enough. Damian still took him down to the ground. With Nightwing, it was like a dance with Eskrimas, clashing the metal bars against each other, making clanging sounds and swinging them around like swords. Damian ended up knocking Dick in the gut with the end of the Eskrima, knocked him off his feet with the other and then striking him in the gut again with the same.

 _It's gonna bring you down!_

"Urgh, what did I tell you, guys, the kid's tougher than a rock," Dick groaned as he technically rolled out of the mat since he couldn't get up from the pain.

Damian then challenged Cisco to fight.

"Hey, no, I am not a fighter," Cisco said, backing away from the control panel as he thought Damian was coming right towards him, "I'm the one who makes the toys, dude."

"Then, can I fight her?" Damian asked, pointing at Rachel who still drawing on the bench with her headphones on, oblivious to what was going on around her.

"NO!" Everyone shouted at him.

 _Huh!_

Damian's next opponent was Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. It was taking more effort than Damian thought. The big man simply didn't want to go down without a fight. As for Slade, he was having a hard time taking down the kid himself. He was a lot more resistant and more determined than Oliver but Slade wasn't willing to back down without a fight. In other words, both Slade and Damian were equally matched when it came to fighting. None of them were winning the fight. After at least an hour and a half of kicking, punching, growling and yelling, Cisco finally called the fight a tie. None of them won the fight. Now Cisco and Oliver owed Diggle 20 bucks since they already made a bet; Cisco's money was on Slade, Oliver's money was on Damian and Diggle bet that neither of them would win. And that was what happened.

* * *

"So this sword I'm giving you here is ten times stronger than the sword you currently have right now," Cisco and Slade walked along through the lab where Cisco had something for Slade. He was going to show it while in the van but Slade wouldn't even allow him to take his hands off the wheel for one second.

There was a long black case on the table next to the computers.

"What's the sword made of?" Cisco asked.

"Steel."

"Ah, well, this sword is not made of steel," Cisco said as he opened the case where inside laid a sword similar to the one Slade is currently using. Slade couldn't see anything special about it. "This is Inertron, stronger than any steel made here or any other country to be exact. It's more powerful that steel or uranium. It's even stronger than volatile Promethium."

"That strong?" Slade asked as he picked up the sword from the case.

"Strong. Weightless. And unbreakable," Cisco informed, "Not even a Kryptonian can break that thing in half."

"Really?" Slade tried bending the sword in his hand but even with the Mirakuru in his veins, he couldn't break the sword in half. Cisco was right. Inertron was indestructible. He grinned a the new sword. "Where did you find this?"

"S.T.A.R. Labs has a lot things hidden around here," Cisco said, "Inertron metal was one of them. It took me literally days to make that thing. Day _and_ night."

"So you spent days and nights without sleep making _this_?" Slade asked, frowning at him. Cisco nodded with a smile. Slade couldn't help but chuckle and patted him on the back. "You did good."

Cisco hissed at the pat in the back and immediately flinched away. Slade frowned again but in confusion this time. He didn't even pat his back _that_ hard. Why did it hurt him? He then remembered Dr. Caitlin Snow asking him to take off his jacket when it was almost 80 degrees in the labs but he refused.

"Cisco, mind telling me why you're still wearing that jacket? If Miss Snow believes that it's 79 degrees in here, I would recommend you listen to her or you might suffer a heatstroke," Slade said.

"It-It's just cold," Cisco walked over to one of the tables where the collar he was making for Felicity laid. Slade knew that he was lying by the way his voice stuttered. "For _me_ it's cold."

"Cisco," Slade was serious this time, hoping to strike fear into him. Cisco didn't even look at him but Slade could see his hands shaking. "Cisco. Take off the jacket."

"I said it's _cold_ , Slade," the kid said monotonously this time. "It's nothing."

"I'm not asking you," he growled. "I'm telling you. Take it off."

"No," Cisco snapped at him this time. It took Slade by surprise. He never heard Cisco snap like that before.

"Cisco, third and final warning," Slade threatened venomously while pointing a finger at him, "Take it off or I'll do it. And I don't think you want that second option."

Cisco looked up at Slade warily but sighed in defeat and put the collar back down on the table. He gritted his teeth as he slowly took off the jacket.

Slade's eye widened. There were dark purplish grey bruises all over his left forearm. They were fingerprints and they looked recent.

"Cisco, what happened to you there?" he asked.

Cisco shook his head quickly. "It was nothing."

"Oh really?" Slade stood behind Cisco and tugged down the collar of his T-shirt, revealing more bruises on the upper back. Slade stared in shock. "What happened here?"

"It's nothing," Cisco nearly stuttered and pushed Slade off.

"Don't you dare lie to me, kid!" Slade snapped as he forcefully turned Cisco around to face him, "I know a damn bruise when I see one. I know the marks of someone bein beaten. Who was it, Cisco?"

"Slade, nothing bad happened. It's none of your concern," Cisco said. But Slade wasn't convinced. He could see tears welling up in Cisco's eyes, either from shame or fear. Probably both.

"Cisco, you tell me what happened or so help me -."

"Hey, Cisco, is the collar ready for testing - Oh my God!" Felicity gasped and screamed as soon as she entered the lab and saw the bruises on his arm. "What happened!?"

"Someone beat Cisco," Slade said before Cisco could come up with an excuse. "And I have a good idea of who might be responsible for this."

Slade remembered the last time he visited S.T.A.R. Labs. Cisco invited him to dinner with his family which Slade declined. Cisco looked disappointed when Slade declined the invitation, almost sad. It even made him wonder why Cisco didn't want to eat with his family alone. Now Slade knew something bad happened to him during that day. Slade remembered seeing Cisco when Felicity and Rachel were kidnapped. Cisco wasn't wearing a jacket that day and his arm didn't have bruises. The bruises were made after Slade and Felicity left Central City.

Caitlin entered the lab as well and gasped at the sight of Cisco's arm. "I knew it! You fucking liar!" She snapped. "I knew something was up and you still fucking lied to my face!"

"What is going on? And I'm not asking again," Slade threatened, still glaring at Cisco.

"Caitlin, please, don't -."

"Shut up, Cisco," Caitlin hissed, "You've done enough lying. You're terrible at it and always will so stop trying, okay?" She then looked at Slade. "Cisco and his dad have been fighting like this ever since the explosion of the particle accelerator injured and killed hundreds of lives in Central City and those twenty miles away from the city. His parents blame him for it and were even trying to force him to quit. But Cisco always says _no_ and it's like he just returned from a Hunger Games movie. And now, he and his dad are getting into fights whenever he heads over to his parents. Last time, he left and then came back with a black eye and a busted lip."

"Cisco, you're letting your father hit you?" Felicity asked in bewilderment.

"No, I'm not letting him hit me," Cisco objected, "It was just a disagreement. And for the record, I fought back."

"Cisco, we all know what a _disagreement_ means when looking at _that_ ," Felicity gritted her teeth angrily while pointing at the bruises in his arms. She grabbed his wrist and lifted his arm up, "This is _not_ okay, Cisco! This is child abuse! You need to tell the police about this."

"No, guys, really, I'm fine," Cisco kept insisting, "I can handle it myself, really."

Without warning, Slade grabbed Cisco by the upper arm and dragged him out of lab.

Looking at each other in confusion, Felicity and Caitlin followed the boys until they were outside of S.T.A.R. Labs. They both watched Slade drag Cisco to the van.

"Slade!?" Felicity called. Slade opened the door to the passenger's seat and practically pushed Cisco into the car. "Slade, what are you doing!"

Slade ignored her as he entered the car himself, started the car and drove away with Cisco.

"Oh my God," Felicity gasped, knowing exactly where Slade was taking Cisco, and grabbed Caitlin by the wrist, "Come on."

They both got into Caitlin's car and followed Slade and Cisco. Both of the girls already knew where Slade was going. Now they were going to stop him before he did something stupid.

* * *

 **Ta-da! I apologize if the fights were a bit crappy but it's because I'm not used to writing fighting scenes. I'm getting the hang of it though. I think.**

 **So, what do you think Slade is going to do? Do you think Slade is going to kill Cisco's father?**


	38. Chapter 38: The Family

**A/N: Chapter 38 is up, we're going to see what's going to happen to Cisco's father, Felicity and Slade are going on their first date, a secret Felicity has been hiding from everyone, including Oliver, and a little surprise gift for Slade.**

 **Also, this is going to be the last time Felicity and Slade will screw since they have other important things to do like trying to stop Colton. Enjoy.**

 **3...2...1**

* * *

"Do you know where Cisco's house is?" Felicity asked anxiously as Caitlin drove down the streets as fast as she could, trying to catch up to Slade and Cisco before anything bad happened. So far, she and Caitlin lost track of them. Felicity had stripped down from her Black Canary uniform in the car and put on her civilian clothes before throwing her uniform in the backseat. She also took off her mask and tossed it back as well before slipping on her glasses.

"Sort of."

"Sort of? Why sort of?"

"I only went to Cisco's house once and that was two years ago," Caitlin stated, "And I got lost twice. Don't worry. We'll find them."

"Oh please God don't let Slade don't anything stupid," Felicity prayed pleadingly.

* * *

Slade continues driving Cisco's van, forcefully asking Cisco to which direction to take. Cisco is sitting in the passenger's seat with his head hung in shame.

"You better not be misdirecting me, kid, or there will be trouble," Slade growled.

'No, I'm sure, it's left turn," Cisco said. "Slade, this is a bad idea. Just turn the van around and let's get back to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"Do you really think I'm simply going to return to the Labs and pretend this never happened?" Slade asked rhetorically. Cisco didn't answer that question. He remained silent until they finally made it to the house.

It was any other normal house in the neighbourhood: clean and friendly-looking. Mrs. Ramon probably did a good job keeping up the appearance and making it look like a family-friendly house but even Slade knew that houses like those kept secrets. He knew because he used to live in one. Slade stopped the van next to the sidewalk and got out of the van before slamming the door shut.

"Slade, please don't kill my dad," Cisco begged. Slade stared at him sternly, "He's an asshole but he's still my dad and I rather if you don't kill him."

Slade remained glaring at Cisco before he proceeded to walk around the van headed towards the house. Cisco got out of the van and ran after him. Slade was already at the porch and rang the doorbell before Cisco could even try to stop him. Cisco backed down the steps behind Slade like a frightened kid as he heard footsteps approaching the door.

The door opened and a woman stood in the entryway. She looked a bit like Cisco but more feminine and more frail. She wore a blue floral dress. She was wiping her hands with a towel when she answered the door. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Are you Mrs. Ramon?" Slade asked as politely as possible while trying to maintain his composure. He made note that it wasn't the woman who attacked Cisco. It was the father.

"Yes, it's Sonya Ramon. Is there something you need?" The woman frowned at him strangely as if wondering what a man like him would be doing standing at the house. Of course, her face paled when she saw Cisco standing behind Slade.

"Hey, mom," Cisco said.

"I would like to speak with your husband," Slade explained, "Is he home?"

"N-no," Mrs. Ramon stuttered. "He left for work early. He's an accountant —."

"Sonya!" A man's voice could be heard from inside the house. Slade already knew Cisco's mother was lying by the look on her face. "Who's at the door!?"

Slade watched Sonya's eyes widen and her face grow even paler. She looked at Slade pleadingly and quietly begged him to leave. "There's no one at the door!" she called over her shoulder.

Of course, Slade didn't listen to Mrs. Ramon. He wasn't leaving until he had a word with her husband. "Mr. Ramon!" Slade called out. "My name is Slade Wilson and I would like to have a word with you!"

There was a minute of silence and then footsteps approaching. A man stood behind Mrs. Ramon. He was almost as tall as Slade but scrawnier than Oliver and was wearing a cheap suit that made him look like a professional but Slade could tell that he was just another amateur in a suit. He didn't look like Cisco's father. No. He looked like an asshole.

"Can I help you?" the man asked.

"Mr. Ramon, my name is Slade Wilson," Slade introduced himself like a gentleman with an outstretched hand. Mr. Ramon took it and gave it a firm shake. Cisco was afraid Slade would rip his father's arm off.

"It's Luis Ramon," the man said, "And who are you?"

"Mr. Ramon, my name is Slade Wilson," Slade repeated, "I'm a friend of your son's."

"What did my son do this time?" Mr. Ramon asked almost in a growling tone.

Slade arched his brow at the man. "Interesting. I was going to ask you the same thing. What did Cisco do? What did he do to make so angry?"

Mr. Ramon nearly gulped before looking at Cisco who was still standing three feet behind Slade and trying to hide his bruised arm behind his back. Mr. Ramon looked back at Slade and snapped at him. "Look, whatever Cisco told you, he's lying."

"All evidence to the contrary," Slade said, his tone getting dark. "You see, when I saw Cisco like this, I was very upset. And yet he still tried to hide it from me, assuring me that everything was all right. And I have to say, nothing is all right."

"Slade, please, just leave it," Cisco insisted like he did before so many times, "Let's just go."

"We're just getting things cleared up, Cisco," Slade said, "Nothing more."

"Cisco," Mr. Ramon grumbled, "Get in the house."

Cisco went pale and took a few steps back. "No."

"Cisco, I said get in the house," Mr. Ramon insisted more threateningly.

"Cisco, please, do as your father tells you," his mother pleaded fearfully.

"I said _no_!" Cisco snapped.

That's when Mr. Ramon marched down the stairs, brushing past Slade, and grabbed Cisco tightly by the arm. "I said get in the house you —."

Mr. Ramon was grabbed by the arm and was slammed against the porch railing by Slade. Mrs. Ramon screamed in horror while Mr. Ramon cried out in pain. "What the fuck is wrong with —!?" Slade proceeded to grab Mr. Ramon by the neck and give it a tight squeeze, choking the words out of him.

"You listen to me, you son of bitch!" Slade roared ferociously at Mr. Ramon, "Don't you ever touch him again!"

"Slade, stop!" Cisco shouted.

"Slade!" Slade heard Felicity yell. He looked over his shoulder to see her jumping out of a moving car with Dr. Caitlin Snow in the driver's seat. She nearly fell to the ground when jumping out of the car but regained her balance immediately. "Slade, stop! Don't kill him!"

Caitlin quickly parked her car on the sidewalk and bolted out of it to join them. "Felicity, are you crazy!? You can't just jump out of a moving car like that!"

"Dr. Snow, take Felicity and Cisco back to S.T.A.R. Labs now," Slade commanded. He wanted to deal with Luis Ramon himself but didn't want either Felicity or Cisco to see it.

"Slade, stop!" Felicity ordered sharply, "Don't do anything you'll regret later."

"This is none of your business, Felicity," Slade growled while returning his attention to that man that hurt Cisco, "Go back to the Labs with Cisco and Dr. Snow."

"Slade," Felicity carefully step forward, knowing that Slade would subdue her if she tried to stop him from hurting Cisco's father. "Please, don't hurt him. I know why you're doing this," she tried reasoning with him, "You suffered child abuse from your father and you don't want Cisco to go through the same thing but that doesn't mean that you have to kill Mr. Ramon or beat him to a coma for it. Caitlin called the police and told Detective Joe West. She explained everything and the police are one their way over to arrest Mr. Ramon. You don't have to do this."

"It's not enough," Slade hissed, "He needs to be punished."

Felicity shook her head. "Not like this. Let him go and let the police take care of him."

"Why should I?" Slade growled once more.

"…Because you're scaring Cisco."

Slade turned his attention to Cisco. The boy's face was drained from colour and his eyes were teary. Slade's anger slowly began to cool down. He knew that Felicity was right. His fury towards the man was frightening Cisco. He knew that it wasn't worth beating the living crap out of Mr. Ramon if it meant losing Cisco's trust and confidence he already had with him.

Slade let go and Mr. Ramon gasped for air. Slade pointed a finger at the man and growled. "You're lucky your son is here, Mr. Ramon or you wouldn't be alive right now. The police will arrest you which is less bad to what I can do you right now. But get this straight, if you ever lay a hand on him again, if I see a mark on him, I will find you and kill you myself. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the man responded in a squeaky voice.

"Good," Slade smirked and walked away from the man before he could even think about doing anything else to him. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Ramon and I suggest you and your wife get a divorce. You're not a man of husbandry or fit to raising kids."

The police arrived and they arrested Luis Ramon. He would be facing charges of child abuse and domestic violence as he also beat Cisco's mom as well, something Slade didn't know until the arrest. Detective Joe West and Detective Eddie Thawne took pictures of the bruises on Cisco's arm and the ones on his upper back for evidence. Cisco was lucky there were no interrogations. It was a simple arrest since Joe West already knew Cisco and the family problems he was having. It was only a matter of time until someone made the report.

Slade went back to the van and Cisco followed. Felicity and Caitlin went back to their car and they all drove back to S.T.A.R. Labs.

* * *

Slade was now training in the salmon ladder. The salmon ladder proved to be a real stress reliever for him. He had used it more than a thousand times during his time on Lian Yu since didn't have anything else to do. There were no TVs in Lian Yu and there was nothing on the radio besides static. Of course, static gave him more entertainment than silence.

He heard a loud flirtatious whistle and looked down to see Felicity standing below. She was wearing a beautiful long-skirted red V-neck peplum dress with her blond curls cascading down her shoulders, no glasses and her lips in the colour that matched her dress. She looked beautiful as always. "How's it going there handsome?" she asked while looking at a shirtless Slade. "You've been there for a while."

"Cisco hasn't spoken to me since we returned to the Labs," Slade said as he jumped down from the salmon ladder and landed on his feet, "He's been working on your collar for an hour or two. I think I made him angry."

Felicity placed her hand on his arm. "You did the right thing, Slade," she said reassuringly, "Not the part of almost killing him. I meant the part of _not_ killing him. Caitlin just informed me that Luis Ramon is going to be facing charges for child abuse and domestic violent. 10 years without parole or trial. Plus there was a restraining order placed so he can't be anywhere 40 feet near Cisco or his family. I think we made a good deal out of it."

"He's still angry with me," he said glumly.

"He's not mad at you, Slade," she said with the shake of her head, "He's just in shock. He'll come around soon. Don't worry."

"You should have studied psychology," Slade complimented with a chuckle. "What you did back there, using my past against me. It was a great tactic."

"It wasn't a tactic, Slade," Felicity said, "It was the truth."

"Well, it worked," Slade smiled.

"You know I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't necessary," she said. Slade walked over to her and kissed her head.

"I know," he said, "What are you dressed for?"

"Well, you _did_ just ask me out on a date before the whole helluva with Cisco started," she said.

Slade grumbled a few curses. He completely forgot about the whole date. "Sorry."

"You were pretty mad today so I don't blame you," she said. "You seem to care a lot about Cisco. I'm guessing it's because you can already relate to what he's going through."

Slade took a towel and began to dry himself off. "He's a good kid. He shouldn't go through something like that. 10 years, you say? I would have been more satisfied with at least 40 but I'm guessing that would have to do."

Felicity scrutinized her eyes at him. "40 seems excessive."

"My dear, death row is excessive. 40 is an act of mercy," Slade said as he slipped on his shirt. "I think we should cancel."

Felicity's eyes widened when he said that. "Are you kidding me? But you just said...So I got dressed up for nothing."

Slade chuckled in amusement. Oh how he loved making her angry. "It was a joke, love."

"That wasn't funny," she pouted.

Slade chuckled again. "I'm going to take a shower first. I shall return."

* * *

Cisco remained working on the collar he was making for Felicity, connecting wiring and fixing a few bugs here and there. He had to use a magnifying glass to get a closer look since the wiring in the device were tiny and had to use a tweezer to connect the wires. The collar would help Felicity control the volume and frequency of her canary cry. It was like making a remote control for a radio.

Cisco had his arm bandaged to keep people from staring at the bruises. He found it annoying. He looked at the case where the sword he made for Slade still laid. Cisco still couldn't believe Slade had the nerve to confront his dad that way, even threatening to kill him if he laid a hand on Cisco again. When returning to S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco remained locked up in his laboratory where he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, not even with Slade. Many would say that Cisco was angry with Slade for nearly killing his dad but Cisco was actually confused, not angry. Why would he do that? Why would Slade care about his problems with his family? He understood that he probably came a dysfunctional family such as his own but Cisco didn't expect for Slade to do something like that. He didn't think Slade would care that much.

Once he got the wires twisted together, he needed to make sure they stick. He turned to his left to reach for a jar of putty, only to squeal like a frightened girl at the sight of Rachel standing right next to him. How the hell did she get in here? "Holy Mother of God," he gasped while placing his hand on his chest; his heart felt like it was about to burst.

Rachel was in his lab which surprised him because he made sure the door was locked. "How did you get in here? How. Did. You. Get. In. Here?"

"I just, got in," she said meekly. Cisco noticed her holding a half-finished drawing in one hand and a box of crayons in the other. "Sorry I scared you."

Cisco took a deep breath to calm himself down. Rachel was just a kid. He knew better than to be scared of a little kid. Of course, there was that Robin kid who looked like he could be the next Hannibal Lecter so technically he should be afraid. But he didn't feel like he should be scared of Rachel. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm bored," she said, "Felicity and Slade are going out, and everyone is too busy to play with me."

"Well, I'm a bit busy too. I'm making the collar for your mom," he told her, "What about the Oompa Loompa kid?" He was referring to the Robin kid Dick brought to S.T.A.R. Labs. "Why not play with him?"

"He's busy too. And he's mean," she said.

Cisco nodded in agreement. The kid was meaner than a jar of horse piss. He never understood that phrase. "Maybe I could use the break. I'm starting to see double." Rachel smiled and nearly hopped in contentment. "So, what do you got there?" Cisco asked, pointing at the drawing in Rachel's hand.

Rachel gave him the drawing. Cisco turned on the lights to get a better look at the drawing. There were a lot of people he recognized in the drawing even if they were all stick figures. There was Felicity in her ponytail and glasses. Then was Slade who looked a bit like a skinny pirate. Oliver in his green hood but with a yellow mustache instead of the goatee he had. Barry in his red Flash suit. _He looks really gay in this pic and not the good kind of gay_ , Cisco thought. Caitlin in her lab coat and scribbles on her head which Cisco imagined to be her brown curly hair. Then there was Dick in the Nightwing suit. Dr. Wells in the wheelchair, which looked a bit distorted. Then John Diggle which Cisco immediately recognized because of the brown crayon. _Okay, that sounded racist_. Then there was another stick figure that Cisco didn't recognize. A girl with short black hair and a brown jacket.

"Who's this one?" Cisco asked while pointing at the figure.

Rachel simply giggled. "That's you."

His eyes widened. "That's me?" Rachel nodded. "Are you sure that's me? I look like a girl."

"You do look like a girl. You screamed like a girl too," she giggled.

Cisco chuckled. "Is it the hair?" He flipped his hair around. "Because if it's the hair then you're jealous because my hair is _fabulous_. I think even Barry is jealous of it...Let me show you something." Cisco got up from the rolling chair and went over to archive where he kept opening and slamming shut cabinet doors and rummaging through things until he finally found what he was looking for.

He took out a orange machine from the archives and returned to his seat. "This is called a Speak & Spell. Have you heard of it?"

Rachel frowned and shook her head.

"Of course you never heard of it. You weren't even born at that time," he said and showed her the device. "This was one of the first computers that existed in the 1980's. Well, that and the Wang processors in the 1970's. Want to see how it works?"

Rachel nodded. Cisco began to show how the Speak & Spell machine worked. It instructed you to spell a word it gave you or use it however you wanted. "Let me spell your name." Cisco pressed the keyboards. It made a few beeps and a robotic voice spoke through the device. R...A...C...H...E...L...RACHEL.

Rachel laughed excitedly at how fun the device looked. Cisco gave her the device to play with. "You can have it if you want," Cisco smiled, "I don't use it anymore."

"Why?" she asked.

"Well, I just don't need it anymore," he said with a shrug of his shoulder. "It helped me talk but since I can talk, I don't see why I need it anymore."

"..Didn't you talk when you were little?" Rachel asked meekly, staring at Cisco curiously.

There was a moment of silence until Cisco let out a loud sigh and shook his head. "No, I didn't. In fact, I didn't start talking until I was at least eight years old."

"Why?" she asked again.

"Well, Rachel, until some other kids, I was born different. I grew up different," he explained as much as possible without using big words to confuse her, "I have these habits, these things I do. I was very picky with whom I interacted. I was very repetitive and organized with things. I still am but a little less than I used to. And I was always obsessed with a certain topic for example, I'm obsessed with making the toys for the superheroes and giving them the cool names. I didn't make much eye contact with other people which made me look like a weirdo and it didn't help me make friends back then. I'm still struggling to get a girlfriend."

Rachel frowned at him in confusion.

"The thing is," he continued explained, "I have this thing called autism. Is it a disease? No. Is it a condition? Some people say that but I don't think it's a condition or a syndrome. I'm simply born with it and I still don't know how it works either."

"Were you scared?" she asked. Rachel was six years old. She wouldn't understand what autism is until she was at least twelve and probably still wouldn't understand.

"Not really," he said, "A lot people tried to help, thinking there was a cure. They always thought it was a disease. But it's not. And there's no cure for autism. I just learned to embrace who I am. I learned to simply be myself, do what I love most and not care what anyone says about me. Simple as that."

Rachel looked down at the device in her hands and let out a deep sigh. She had a glum look on her face as if she had something to say but didn't want to say anything, Cisco could tell by the look on her face.

"You okay?" he asked.

Rachel closed her eyes and removed her hands from the Speak & Spell device, letting it rest on her lap. Moments later, the Speak & Spell device turned on by itself and began to spell on its own. C...I...S...C...O...CISCO.

Cisco's eyes widened when he saw the device spell his name without him or Rachel touching the keyboards. Cisco looked at her in shock. Rachel opened her eyes and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"H-How? How did you do that?" he stuttered out the question. Rachel answered by shrugging her shoulders.

"I was born with it," she answered.

"You were born with it? Are you sure you didn't get affected by the particle accelerator?" he asked. She frowned at him. _Of course she doesn't know what a particle accelerator_. "You know what? Scratch that. Forget I said. So you were born with them? What else can you do?"

The Speak & Spell then began to slowly float from her lap. "I can make things move without touching them. And I can read minds."

"You're not reading my mind right now, right?" he asked. Rachel shook her head and Cisco sighed of relief. "Good. You don't want to know what's in there." The device slowly floated back down but into Cisco's hands. "This is incredible. It's just...awesome." Rachel smiled at him and he smiled back. "Is there anything else you want to show or is this it for Show n' Tell?"

Rachel shook her head and took his hand in hers. She tugged at his hand, urging him to follow her. Cisco got up and followed Rachel towards the door where they phased through it like ghosts. Cisco paled a little bit but was still amazed by Rachel's ability.

"You don't mind if I run a few tests, right?" He asked.

"Will it hurt?" She asked in return.

"Nah, don't worry about that," he said, taking her by the hand and they both headed for the training room.

* * *

Felicity and Slade were having dinner at an Italian restaurant Caitlin said that had the best service in Central City. It was nice for them so far. The waiters were nice and they got a table near a balcony with the best view of the city and yellow Christmas lights above them. It wasn't even December. Felicity giggled when she saw the lights. It must have been part of the decoration. Caitlin hit the nail on the head when she said that it was one of the best restaurants in the city. A waitress with the name on her tag Holly Robinson attended them both and they ordered fettuccine pasta with chicken and alfredo sauce with a side of Caesar salad. So far the food was good.

"It's been awhile since I've had Italian pasta," Felicity said as she twirled the fork in the pasta, getting them tangled on the fork before scooping it up from her plate and eating it. She hummed.

Slade smiled and placed his hand on hers. "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

Felicity swallowed before speaking. "Aren't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," he said, "You look beautiful, more than you ever were. And I like to see you happy."

"Being with you makes me happy," she smiled. "I didn't think we would ever get an opportunity like this and yet, here we are. Together. Eating pasta in a nice restaurant."

"And drinking wine," he said with a chuckle. There was a bottle of red wine next to them and the glasses were full. Slade cupped her cheek softly. "You are an extraordinary woman, Felicity. I didn't think I'd ever be happy again."

"Aww, don't make me cry, Slade," she sniffled as she tried to hold back tears, and laughed. "You're going to make me ruin my mascara."

For once in their life, they didn't talk about their troubled past. They didn't talk about Colton, Cisco, Oliver, Shado, Lian Yu, Mirakuru or Rachel or anything else. They simply talked about themselves for the entire dinner, telling each other what they like and what they didn't like. Felicity told Slade how she used to sneak chocolate milk into her Kellogg's cereal because she didn't like how the cereal tasted. "The entire cereal tasted like cardboard. I swear, I think it was out of date." And Slade went on telling her how he once got attacked by pelican when he was fourteen. "I kept running and the bloody thing just kept chasing after me," he said and Felicity laughed.

"How did you get out of that?" she asked.

"I didn't. I threw rocks at it and got arrested by the police for it," he said.

"Why would they arrest you if _you_ were the one getting attacked?" she asked.

"They said I was disturbing the wildlife," he chuckled.

"That's crap," she said.

"Believe me, love, I said the same thing," he continued, "They got me in the car and they drove back to the police station. Do you know the most maddening part of all? The bloody bird was chasing the police car I was in." Felicity cracked laughing. She already had the mental image of a fourteen-year-old Slade getting chased by a pelican. "The police then asked me what I did to make the pelican angry and I simply shrugged and said _I don't know_. That bird finally stopped chasing when it realized it was already far from the beach and flew back to where it belonged. I think that bird held a personal grudge against me. God help me if that damn thing is still alive."

The spent most of the two hours talking after eating their dinner. They waitress returned to pick up the empty plates and Slade asked if they could have another bottle of wine to go and they declined when the waitress asked if they wanted dessert. "No thank you," they said and the waitress returned to the kitchen.

Felicity held Slade's hand and smiled softly at him. "I have something for you." Slade's eye narrowed when she said that. "I wasn't so sure of giving it to you tonight because I didn't to ruin our date tonight but I thought that it was important," she said, her smile slowly disappearing.

Slade remained silent and stared attentively at her she reached into her purse and pulled out a small yellow envelope. She placed the envelope on the tabled and slid it towards him. Frowning in suspicion, Slade took the envelope in his hands and practically tore the seal open. Inside the envelope, there were three plane tickets with each of them having the same destination. SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA.

He looked back at Felicity with a frown. "What's this?"

"...I..." she stuttered and sighed as she tried to find her words. "I was thinking that since...your ex-wife and son are, you know...I was thinking that after all the whole thing with Colton blows over, maybe you, me and Rachel could go to Australia and visit their graves. So you can see them." Her voice fell meek when she noticed that Slade was still frowning at her. "I know. I ruined the mood tonight. I'm sorry I even brought it up."

"Why would you do something like this for me, Felicity?" he asked while putting the envelope down on the table. Felicity took the envelope back and put it back in the purse.

"Because you need it. And because I love you," she said meekly.

His frown softened when she said it. She said she _loved_ him.

Slade stood up from the chair, walked around the table and pulled Felicity up from her chair before pressing his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. "I love you," he whispered in return and continued kissing her.

After paying for dinner, they went to the nearest hotel room. There they rented a room for the night where stripped off their clothing and made love, with Slade holding her down on the bed and thrusting into her. Felicity pressed her head back against the mattress and let out small gasps and moans. They were desperate in being in bed with each other, especially after the interruption at the Clock Tower when Diggle walked in on them. Now they could have sex as much as they wanted for the night and they weren't ashamed if anyone could hear them next-door.

* * *

"What's this?" Rachel asked as she kept poking at helmet with wires on her head. She was standing in the middle of the training room on the combat floor. Cisco stood behind the controls and told her not to poke the helmet.

"That helmet," he explained, "has sensors in it that detects activity from body and mind. To put it simple, it's going to tell me how much energy you use when activating your powers."

"Will it hurt?" she asked nervously.

"Don't worry. It won't hurt," he assured her. "Think of it as X-rays when going to the doctors. I already tested it on Barry and it works great."

"Okay," she nodded in agreement.

Cisco pressed a few buttons on the control panel until the helmet on Rachel's head began to glow a light blue hue. Cisco thought she looked like Professor X using Cerebro from the X-Men comics.

"Okay, Rachel, let a rip."

Rachel nodded and slowly raising her hands up in the air and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, they were black as marble and the lights around them flickered on and off rapid and repeatedly, making loud buzzing sounds.

Cisco nearly jumped at the sudden noise. Nevertheless, he continued watching the meter as the little needle rose up from the green bar to the yellow bar. "Holy shit," he laughed while watching this in amazement. Some of the equipment in the training room were now hovering in the air and spin. "This is so cool."

He saw the needle rose a little higher and he frowned at the meter. "Okay, Rachel, you can stop now."

He looked at Rachel and noticed that she was shaking but she wasn't stopping. The lights flickered frantically, the equipment slammed into the walls, creating cracks and holes, and the windows were breaking. Cisco quickly ran to her, crouched in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulders. Dark veins sprouted outside of her black eyes and blood trickled down her nostrils to her lips.

"Rachel? Rachel, stop!" Cisco took off the helmet from her head and shook her, trying to her to snap out of it. The control panel exploded, the 10-inch windows shattered into pieces and the lights above sparked.

Rachel coughed up blood before collapsing on the floor. Cisco panicked. "Rachel!" he shouted. He picked her in his arms and shook in a failed attempt to wake her up. She didn't look like she was breathing. Cisco called for help. "Caitlin! Dick! Dr. Wells! Help! Please!"

When his hands made contact with her cold cheek, Cisco instantly saw dead birds around them. Dead ravens. There was also fire. Screaming. Blood. Darkness. Four glowing eyes. Horns. Cloak. Deformed creatures. It was a horrible scene to watch. It looked like something out of a horror film and Cisco wanted to get out of there. Luckily, Caitlin and Dick entered as quickly as possible and took Rachel from his arms and the visions immediately disappeared. _What was that?_

* * *

Felicity and Slade laid intertwined on the bed after making love. Slade had his arm around her shoulders and Felicity was resting her head against his chest with a smile displayed on her face.

She sighed. "We might not do this every night, especially if I'm a mother now."

Slade chuckled at her words. "We'll get our chances every now and then."

"Like right now?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Indeed. We still have a few hours left before we return to S.T.A.R Labs," he said with a mischievous smirk, "We should make most of the time."

Felicity smirked back. It was surprising. Slade never saw her smirk before and it made her look a bit evil.

She climbed on top of Slade, his member burying itself inside her and he groaned in satisfaction. Felicity cradled her lower regions back and forth on him, moaning and hissing in pleasure. Slade's hand slowly crept up her stomach to cup her breast softly.

Felicity coughed.

Slade frowned at her in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she panted but continued to cough and cough and cough. Blood began to spew out of her mouth as she continued to cough.

"Felicity?"

Felicity dropped on the bed limp and lifeless, her blue eyes staring up at the ceiling. Slade bellowed out in horror and tried to wake Felicity up without success. She was dead. There was a dagger jammed into her stomach and he looked at his hands to see blood on them.

"You killed her." Slade looked up to see Shado standing in front of him, her face grey and bony and blood pouring out of her eyes. "You killed her. Just like you killed your son." Next to Shado, there was a little boy with brown hair and skin covered in blood and a slit on his throat and looked a lot like Slade at a younger age. _Joey_.

"No!" Slade yelled, sitting up from his bed and no longer seeing Shado or Joey. Nor could he see Felicity.

He heard a moaning sound and saw Felicity getting up from the floor, still alive and no blood or dagger to be seen. She looked unharm. _It was just a nightmare_.

"Slade, please give a warning next time you're going to scream bloody murder so I won't have to fall on my face from the bed," she said as she returned to the bed and frowned at him. He looked like he saw a ghost. She held his arm. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly. "Bad dream?"

Slade shook his head. "Nightmare."

"It's the same thing yet you say it as if it were something different in your head," she said. She then realized something. "We forgot the Hypnocil. Colton must have been trying to scare you away from me."

"It almost worked." Slade brought Felicity in a tight embrace. "I thought I killed you."

"In the dream, or throwing me off the bed when you woke up screaming," she chuckled. Slade looked at her seriously. Her amusement faded. "Slade, if you really wanted to hurt me, you would have done it right now or before then. And yet here we are. You would never hurt me."

"You don't know that, love."

"Yes, I do," she said more determined.

She gently pushed Slade down and straddled him, gasping as his member penetrated her once more. Slade simply looked at her, remembering how exactly the nightmare started with Felicity riding him and then coughing up blood. He didn't want it to happen again. He attempted to get her off him but as she began to ride him slowly like she did before, he couldn't help but let out a moan. His hands grasped her hips tightly to bring her down into his thrusts more harshly. Felicity gasped and cried out, her hands holding on to his shoulders for dear life as Slade continued to control her pace.

Felicity brushed her hair back from her face as leaned down to brush her lips against his, teasing him. Growling, Slade sat up, pressing her body closer to him and practically devouring her mouth with deep kisses as he continued to bring down into his thrusts more forcefully. She wrapped her legs around his waist and cried out. Departing from her kiss, he buried his face into her chest to kiss her breast again as he climaxed, listening to her gasp as she already reached her peak. It only took a few more minutes before he finally came with a growl, his face still pressed against her chest.

Felicity panted in exhaustion and laid her head on his shoulder, her legs feeling numb around his waist and her hands sliding to his back. Never did she felt this intense in her life. And neither did Slade. He kissed her breast once more before resting his head on her shoulder and nuzzled his face into her neck.

"Feeling better now?" she asked tiredly.

"Much better," he chuckled. "We don't get to do this every night."

"No, but maybe during the holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas, New Years, Chinese New Year, Halloween, and every Saturday night," she said with a smile. He chuckled and kissed her head.

The cellphone rang. It depended on who's cellphone it was though. "I think that's mine."

Slade frowned. "Actually, I think it's both of our phones, love."

Both of them got out of bed immediately. Felicity's phone was in her purse on the nightstand while Slade's phone was in his coat on the floor. When Felicity answered the phone first, Slade's phone stopped ringing.

"Hello?" she asked, "Caitlin?...Caitlin, I can't understand...Slow down..." Slade saw her eyes go wide. "She what?...Oh my God. We'll be right there."

* * *

They returned to S.T.A.R. Labs 20 minutes later after receiving the call from Caitlin Snow of Rachel having a collapse in the training room. She was in the infirmary, resting and connected to a respiratory system. Felicity was relieved to see Rachel's breath fogging the plastic mask on her face which meant that she was still alive despite her being pale as death. Oliver and Diggle had gone to find medicine for Rachel at the pharmacy and Barry was looking for Dr. Wells since he couldn't find him anywhere when Rachel collapsed. Caitlin informed them that Rachel nearly went into cardiac arrest and they were able to stabilize her. Slade went to find Cisco after Dick informed him that he sent him out of the infirmary since he was getting too emotional unstable to be near her.

Damian was listening to Rachel's heartbeat with a stethoscope and Felicity watched carefully.

"You know how to use that thing, Damian?" Felicity asked meekly as she sat down next to the medical bed and held Rachel's hand. She stared at him, surprised at his doctor skills.

"I've been attending stabbed assassins since I was 3," the boy said arrogantly, "I think I know what I'm doing."

"Wow... so you're both doctor and assassin? That's very useful," she said.

"You're uncomfortable around me, Miss Smoak? Is it because I'm an assassin or because I'm attending your _daughter,_ per say," he said. He already knew that Rachel wasn't Felicity's actual daughter. It wasn't that difficult to figure out. There was no resemblance between her and Felicity.

"I'm just worried about her," she said while looking down an unconscious Rachel, "And yes, I'm a bit uncomfortable. You're only, what, ten years old and you already know how to fight, kill and heal people -?"

"Precisely in that order," he said.

"What about school? Your family? Friends? Birthdays? Christmas? Don't you get presents on Christmas or on your birthday?" she asked. Damian gave Felicity a wrinkled look. She didn't know whether he was confused or disgusted by the questions.

"Batman doesn't have much time for birthdays or Christmas. And according to your personal files, you're Jewish so you don't celebrate Christmas, you celebrate Hanukkah which strikes me odd that you would ask me if I receive presents on Christmas," he said as he removed the stethoscope from his ears. "I almost never leave the Batcave, not without Batman or Nightwing, of course. Being here is a breath of fresh air for me."

"I think I rather call him Bruce or Mr. Wayne because I'm still getting used to knowing that your warder and the owner of Wayne Enterprises is Batman," she suggested. Damian gave her the tiniest of smiles.

"Bruce Wayne is _not_ my warder," he said, "He's my father." Felicity's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets when he said that. _So Mr. Wayne lied about Damian being his ward? Holy shit_. "I'm the son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. I trust you won't mention any of this to the press. It will be all over the media in a few hours."

"What were we talking about? Who's your father?" Damian frowned but realized she was joking when she smiled at him. "Why doesn't your father say anything about you being his son?"

"Father doesn't like to talk about it. Too scandalous for the press. It might even ruin his reputation if anyone finds out I am the son of the billionaire playboy and of an assassin. Do you know what that would do?" he asked rhetorically.

Felicity shrugged her shoulders as a response. "I don't know much about it. I've never been confronted by the press except on the night my mother died which was a very long tie ago. I can't even remember if there was a press outside my house. But there was my boyfriend Cooper who shot himself in front of me. Walking outside, reporters kept flashing their cameras at me and asking questions like what I said to him that made him shoot himself and blah blah blah."

"So you do know how it feels then? It's annoying. It's tedious. It's idiotic and it's none of their business," Damian hissed, "All those people do is scrutinize at you, watching your every move and for anything that you do wrong so they can criticize it through a TV screen and printed papers. You're either hated or pitied on. And there's nothing worse than person who takes pity on someone who doesn't need it or deserve it."

Felicity stared at Damian in shock. She never saw a kid like him use big words like or talk with such snarky and arrogant attitude. He looked like he carried a lot of weight on his shoulders over the past years and was getting sick of it. Felicity truly felt sorry for Damian. It was clear that he didn't have a childhood for being Robin. But as Damian said, he didn't want anyone to be sorry for him. For some reason, he found it stupid and unnecessary which was a sad thing for him to say.

Damian got up from his seat and was walking out of the infirmary. "You already know my sob story, Miss Smoak. Just try not turn it into one of those pity parties."

After he was gone, Dick entered the infirmary. He told Felicity that Slade went to check on Cisco who was still a bit hysterical about what happened to Rachel in the training room. "You should see how the training room looks. It's like a twister hit the place."

"And she did all that before collapsing?" she asked. She already knew that Rachel had powers. She didn't know at first but after what she saw when they were kidnapped by Ravager and Gul, she finally believed that Rachel was some of metahuman.

"I didn't really see anything but Cisco told me and judging by the damage done to the training room, I believe him," he said and leaned back against the doorway with arms crossed. "You know, I've been listening to you and Damian talking and I'm surprised that he actually had a conversation with someone."

"It felt more like a confrontation than an actual conversation," she said.

"Trust me. That's the first time I've ever seen him talking to someone without threatening to chop their head off," he chuckled. "A five minute of proper conversation. Last time I first spoke with him, it only lasted one minute with him saying that he wanted to stab me."

 _Oh lord_ , Felicity thought. _So not only Damian is an assassin but he's also a stabber._ _That's new to me. Should I even be surprise?_

"Does he always threaten to stab people?" she asked.

"Yes," he blurted, "Lots of times. My friend Jason. My friend Tim. Another friend named Stephanie. He's always saying that he wants to stab her so that's not surprising if he says it to her frequently. Between you and me, I think he might have a crush on her."

"Well, at least he gets crushes, so I think that's a start," Felicity said with the shrug of her shoulders. _God help Mr. Wayne when Damian hits puberty._ She then noticed Dick eyeing at Rachel every now and then. He had been eyeing Rachel a lot recently, as if he had seen her before. "Why do I have the feeling you already met Rachel before I did? You keep looking at her," she said quietly, "Unless you're a perv or something?"

Dick scratched his nose. "Yeah, well, I was the one who found her. The Bats and I actually. _We_ found her, next to her mother's body. And we took her to the orphanage near Starling City. She wasn't supposed to be put in adoption until her mother's death was investigated which surprises me how you ended up with her in the first place. You were the substitute mother, right? And then suddenly got full custody and you're now her foster mom? How did that work?"

"Rachel bit a boy and the headmistress was going to kick her out of the orphanage," Felicity confessed, "And since she couldn't do it legally, she made me sign papers that would give me the full custody. And here we are."

"You do realize I'm going to have to tell Bats about this, right?" he stated.

Upon hearing this, Felicity quickly stood up and walked over to Dick. "Please don't tell him," she begged. "He'll take her away."

"If this happens again, I don't have a choice," Dick said, "What happened there was dangerous. She could have gotten herself killed. Or worse, she could have killed Cisco and destroyed S.T.A.R. Labs with everyone in it. If Rachel can do all that dangerous, there's no telling what else she is capable of?"

"She needs me -."

"Not as much as you need her," he said firmly. Felicity went silent. _He better not insult me or say anything mean_. "Why did you take the job to be a substitute mother? Was it really to earn the extra cash or was it because you got tired of being lonely?"

Felicity brought her hand up in attempt to hit him across the face but held back, curling her hand into a fist and bringing it back down to her side. "Weeks before I decided to take the job, I went to my gynecologist where the doctor told me that my uterus has a few issues and those issues keep me from having kids. There's only 30% chance that I can get pregnant and that chance is very low."

Dick gave her a pitiful expression. He didn't know. He didn't read anything in her medical records about her being potentially infertile. "Does Slade know?" he asked.

"No. And I don't know how he'll take it if I tell him, but I know I'll have to tell him before it's too late," she said, "It's the only thing I've kept in secret from everyone, including Sara Lance and Oliver. I didn't want to die without knowing what being a mother is like and I don't regret my decision. Being a mother to Rachel Roth was the best thing that ever happened to me. And if my father kills me, I'll be happy to die knowing that I did my best in being the mother I wanted to be and one that she needed."

"Despite all the things you've seen that she can do, you still have the balls -."

"Yes. Despite everything I've seen," she nodded, "She's my kid and I love her. Please, Nightwing, don't tell Mr. Wayne about this."

Dick knew that he wasn't as cold as Batman to take away the kid from Felicity. He tried. He tried very hard to be as cold as Batman during his years as Robin but he couldn't. Batman's coldness was sometimes too cruel and he didn't want to be the way Batman was. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I won't call him. But, he'll always find out. So I can't guarantee you that he won't know."

Felicity bit her lower lip and nodded in agreement.

"Mama?"

Felicity turned around to see Rachel waking up and taking off the respiratory mask. She smiled and ran to the bed to embrace her. "I'm so glad you're okay. Don't scare me like that."

"I love you too, Mama," she said.

"You heard?"

Rachel smiled sweetly. "Every word." She even smiled at Dick. "Thank you for finding me."

"You're going to make me cry, kid," Dick said while wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He noticed Damian behind the turn of the hallway and immediately disappeared running.

"Where's Cisco?" Rachel asked tiredly, "Can I see Cisco?"

* * *

Slade walked into the training room. It was a complete mess. The windows shattered. The control panel destroyed. And a few lights still flickering. Slade heard angry grunts and he spotted Cisco hitting a punching bag. He smirked. _So the kid can hit?_

"No matter how much you try, kid, the punching bag is not going to fight back or scream," he said.

Cisco turned to face Slade. He was red in the face. Slade didn't know whether Cisco was angry or was crying. He ignored him and continued punching the bag with more force now. Slade continued watching him. Cisco wasn't wearing gloves which could damage his knuckles and his punching positions was wrong. His punches were weak. Slade knew that if he continued punching that way in the future, he wasn't going anywhere. Of course, Cisco wasn't doing it for training, he was doing it to get his anger out or whatever emotion he was feeling at the moment.

Slade walked closer and crossed his arms. "Mr. Grayson told me what happened with Rachel -."

Cisco let out a yell as he threw another punch at the bag, only for him to curse and rub his wrist while trying to not to cry out in pain. _That must have hurt_.

"Let me have a look at that," Slade said as he tried to hold Cisco's wrist but Cisco pushed him back harshly.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Doubt it," Slade said gruffly, "Another punch like that and you might break your wrist. Your punching technique is all wrong and your position is incorrect."

"Why don't you teach me how to punch properly, huh!?" Cisco snapped angrily, "You're already good at it!"

"Is this about me almost beating your father for what he did to you?" he asked.

"No, it's not. Maybe. I didn't want your help or anyone's. I was fine."

"Indeed," Slade said sarcastically, "You were fine covered in bruises and your father about to beat you again when he saw that I found out. He didn't even care that he was going to hit you right in front of me, kid."

"Shut up about my dad, okay!?" Cisco yelled angrily, his voice bouncing off the walls. Slade fell silent, staring at Cisco in shock. "I...I could have killed her."

Slade knew that he was talking about Rachel. "You didn't do anything wrong, Cisco."

"Yes I did! If I had known that something like that can happen to her, I wouldn't have encouraged her to do a test run. If I had just left it alone..." Cisco gave the punching bag a kick but fell on the floor.

"It's called a _punching_ bag, not a kicking bag," Slade grunted as he pulled Cisco back on his feet.

Tears began to run down Cisco's cheeks and he tried to hide them from Slade by wiping them away. But as more streamed down he knew he couldn't hide them. He dropped on his knees and quietly sobbed.

"It's my fault," he cried. Slade crouched down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I nearly killed her with the test run. I shouldn't have done that to her."

"You didn't know what could happen, Cisco," Slade said, "The machines didn't hurt her. She simply lost control of herself. You recently found out she's a metahuman. So do we. We don't know how far she can go and I don't think she knows either. So it's not your fault."

"Yeah right. It's like not blaming me for causing the particle accelerator to explode," Cisco said, "I was the one who helped build it. I should have seen the errors. People wouldn't be dead and the rest wouldn't be metas."

"Cisco, you are also a meta so you're not the only one who's been affected," Slade reminded him. Of course, Felicity didn't turn into a metahuman by the particle accelerator and as for Rachel, Slade didn't know where she came from anyways so he wouldn't know where her powers came from.

"Dad always thought I was going to be a disaster in the future, maybe he's right and I deserve every beating he gave me," he said.

"I'm guessing the chaos caused by the particle accelerator wasn't the only time he beat you, was it?" Slade asked. Cisco shook his head.

"Dad didn't like the idea of me being autistic," he said, "He always thought I would shame him and the rest of our family so he thought the best cure was to beat it out of me. He would hit me every time I had a meltdown or did something that was weird to him. He also use to hit Dante too. He got Dante to like music by force. I was the only one who had the fucking balls to get out of the house and do my own thing without getting beaten for it, you know?"

"I know." Slade did something he thought he would never do. He hugged Cisco, putting his arm around the boy's shoulder and letting Cisco put his arms around his waist. "None of this is your fault, Cisco. You're a good kid. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Hugging Cisco felt like was like hugging his youngest son Joey. It wasn't an awkward brotherly hug he used to have with Oliver on Lian Yu. He was hugging Cisco because he liked him, he could relate to what he was going through and because he was already beginning to see Cisco as a son.

"Stop kicking yourself in the ass for something you no control of," Slade said as he released him.

"Do you think you can teach me how to punch?" Cisco asked shyly, immediately changing the subject. Slade chuckled.

"I can teach you more than that if you promise to do everything I saw and not break every bone in your body," Slade agreed.

"Wouldn't you already be doing that?" He asked. Slade let out a deep laugh. Cisco gave him a small smile and wiped away the rest of his tears.

"Cisco." Felicity entered the training room and gasped when she saw the destruction inflicted upon. "Holy crap, Dick wasn't kidding when he said a twister hit the place."

"A twister?" Slade frowned.

"Long story," she said before redirecting her attention to Cisco. "Rachel wants to see you."

Cisco gulped nervously and looked at Slade warily. Slade nodded at him to go and Cisco followed Felicity to the infirmary where Rachel was waiting. When Rachel saw Cisco, she hugged him. "I'm fine, Cisco," she said and he hugged her in return.

Slade simply stood there, watching his new family grow. And smiled at Felicity, the one who gave the family.

* * *

 **So, how do you guys like this chapter? What do you think of the love scene between Felicity and Slade and Slade 's fatherly relationship with Cisco? Also, what do you think of the interaction between Cisco and Raven, and the interaction between Felicity and Damian and Nightwing? Or the revealing that she probably can't have her own children?**

 **Let me know in the comments below.**

 **The next chapter is coming up soon and it will stick to trying to find and stop Colton.**

 **Thank you so much.**


	39. Chapter 39: Blow It Up

**I finally finished school for the holidays! Woo-hoo! Thank God, I was going crazy-er.**

 **Anyways, the next chapter to _Black Smoak_ is finally up. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I've been _really_ occupied with projects, assignments and exams that were giving me a headache and weren't giving me enough time to write. **

**WARNING: Another character death is coming. And there will be blood.**

* * *

Team Arrow had to stay overnight until they were sure Rachel was fine. Caitlin and Cisco ran a few tests on her to make sure another collapse like that didn't happen a second time. So far, her heart rate was normal and there were no signs that the previous event could happen again. With that, Team Arrow would return by morning. Before they left Central City, Team Flash gave them a few things. Cisco gave Slade the sword he made for him and gave Felicity the collar that would help control the frequencies of her canary cry along with a box that had an extra surprise for her.

"You can open that one when you get back to Starling City," he said, "I think you're going to like it. And for you, little lady..."

For Oliver, Cisco gave him a studier bow and a quiver full of different arrows. For Diggle, Cisco gave him his new codename Spartan and a helmet that would keep his identity hidden once he went into the field.

Cisco gave Rachel the Speak & Spell device as a present. "Thank you," she said. Cisco was still wary of the visions he saw when holding Rachel after the collapse. He didn't know what they meant but they were gruesome and terrifying. He knew he would have nightmares for weeks after seeing that and would have to watch a marathon of Adam Sandler movies to get it out of his head. The dead ravens, lying on the ground around him bloody and being devoured by maggots. It was scary. The moment he remembered last night, he went to the bathroom to throw up. Right now, he was trying not to think about it as he was saying his goodbyes to others so he wouldn't throw up on them. He hugged Slade and Felicity but Oliver and Diggle didn't want any hugs; they weren't huggers. Caitlin hugged all of them. So much for non-huggers. Barry hugged Felicity which earned him a stink eye from Slade.

"Is he seriously going to give me that look every time we hug...or interact?" Barry asked. Felicity looked at Slade and laughed.

"Pretty much."

"May the force be with you then, girl." Felicity was aware that Slade would get easily jealous. She hoped his jealousy didn't get in the way of their relationship.

Team Arrow returned to Starling City where they would continue with their mission of trying to find Colton. Slade would train her with strict rules for her not to use her powers. Every time she did, Slade would flip her to the ground as punishment for her disobedience. He trained her harshly without mercy. He trained her to at least so far learn to defend herself. So far, she learned great dearly and very quickly. She grew to be a quick study with the bamboo sticks. Felicity would never beat Slade but she was getting the hang of kicking both Diggle's and Oliver's ass. They would still beat her down to the ground when she thought she won. But at least, she was able to fight. She still needed to learn to distribute her weight. She kept stumbling...a lot. And she was obligated to use the salmon ladder every day to improve and increase her strength; her hands were still too frail and easy to break. Cisco at least a bit more strength than her even if it wasn't enough for him to win in a fight.

"I don't know how you, Oliver and Dig can do this for hours." Felicity panted after one session on the salmon ladder that lasted an hour and a half, and looked like she was about to pass out.

"It's called resistance, love. You'll learn to use it one day," Slade assured her with a pat on her shoulder.

At home, Felicity and Slade continued with their lives, sleeping together and raising Rachel. Slade had been showing her how to tie her shoes since she didn't know how to tie her shoes. Slade actually pitied her for not learning how to tie her shoes. The orphanage didn't seem to show her anything, just sit there and wait for someone to adopt her or throw her away like garbage.

"Slade, why do you wearing the eyepatch?" she asked.

"Well, my dear, I'm wearing the eyepatch because I'm missing an eye," he said, "Oh, I'm not going to show you. If you have nightmares for a week, your mother will be very angry with me."

This made Rachel giggle.

"Now, do you think you can do this part on your own?" he asked. Rachel nodded her head. And she began to try to tie her shoe by herself. Slade wondered why he couldn't have a child like her. He had Joey and Grant. Of course, they weren't girls. _That came out wrong._ Grant was rebellious and wasn't really nice to neither his mother or his brother. And Joey was just the sweetest boy Slade could ever hoped for but he was dead and so was Adeline. If he hadn't crash landed in Lian Yu, everything would have been different and yet here he was right now, teaching a six year old how to tie her shoes. He hoped he could have a second chance raising Rachel like his own.

"Slade, what's Lian Yu?" Rachel suddenly asked. Slade looked at her in bewilderment.

"Where did you hear that?" Slade asked but she didn't answer. "Rachel" he said warningly. "Where did you hear that?"

"I heard it from you," she said timidly, thinking that she was in trouble.

"Well, I didn't say anything, unless you can read minds," he said. Rachel looked at him with wide eyes. "So you can. Rachel, I don't want you doing that. It's rude and it scares people." He took her by the chin to make her look at him in the eye. "Do you understand?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"It's a'right, but no more of this," he said. Rachel nodded and promised she would never read his mind again without his permission or anyone else's mind in general.

Of course, that didn't stop him from confronting Felicity about it when she got home. He actually asked her if she mentioned anything about Lian Yu which she responded with a no which confirmed that Rachel wasn't lying. It actually had him worried. And it worried Felicity too.

* * *

"I have just been informed that Doctor Arthur Light just quit investing Queens Consolidated, the others are upstairs in the conference room. They are not happy about your actions at the courthouse and they demand an emergency meeting immediately," Felicity said as she followed Slade to the elevator. Once there, he pressed the button to the top floor and adjusted his tie. "Plus, none of them are eating the bagels which is not a good sign...at all."

"I always thought Arthur Light was a cowardly fool so there's no true loss there, love," he said with a sigh.

"Well, there will be one if you don't fix the problem soon, Slade," she said and babbled, "And by fix, I don't mean kill so don't start getting any ideas. I mean, not that you were thinking about it. Were you thinking about?"

Slade interrupted her before she could babble any further. "Felicity, don't worry about this. I'll just have a word with the investors and have this situation fixed in no time. You do what you need to do, do you understand?"

Felicity nodded in agreement as the elevator doors slid open and both of them entered the top floor. Slade needed to deal with the investors that threatened to quit on Queens Consolidated. Felicity and Diggle were going to be busy trying to track down Colton and find out what his next plan was.

"Cisco is doing a run down on medical records at every hospital in Central City," Felicity informed him. "He's looking for the names of the patients. Cisco says that there might be a possibility of Colton being in Central City and getting affected by the particle accelerator before arriving to Starling City."

"Do you believe it might be possible for something like that to happen?" Slade asked.

"With Barry, Rachel, and me being metahumans, it doesn't really surprise me if Colton turned out to be another metahuman," she said.

"Of course, you didn't become a metahuman by a shock wave from an explosion," he said.

She shook her head "No, I did not. And neither did Rachel. It makes me wonder, how _did_ she become a metahuman? I mean she was never in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded and I'm sure _you_ didn't have anything to do with it."

Slade chuckled in amusement. "Maybe you can ask her when we get home."

"I _will_ ask her," she said while giving him a clipboard and her favourite red pen. "Here's Dr. Light's resignation." Slade took the clipboard and scrutinized at it. "I'm actually leaving at lunch time and heading back home so I can take Rachel to the zoo."

Slade looked up from the clipboard and frowned at her. "Are you certain?"

"Slade, she's been in an orphanage for what? Two years? And god knows what her childhood was like before that," Felicity pointed out, "She went crazy when she saw the movie _We Bought a Zoo_ which clearly implies she has never been to a zoo before. Besides, I promised I would take her so I think you should let me take the rest of the day off or we might face disaster. You already know what she can do."

"That girl doesn't just need a zoo," Slade signed Dr. Light's resignation letter and handed the clipboard back to Felicity. "She needs a full childhood."

"Once she turns seven, I'm going to throw her Disney Princess birthday party," she drawled. "Of course, I'm not sure if she likes Disney Princesses."

Slade scoffed. "I know _I_ don't. I'm getting tired of them singing."

Felicity laughed as they made it to the conference room where they were immediately met with hard stares from Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne and Ray Palmer. Of course, Ray Palmer looked more blankly as he were wondering if he should be here. Oliver, on the other hand, was just standing in the corner awkwardly like a sitting duck. Felicity bit her lower lip and rubbed her arm uncomfortably.

"So the rumours are true," Bruce Wayne said, "Miss Smoak and Mr. Wilson are dating despite the chaos he made at the courthouse."

 _Damian_ , Felicity thought, realizing that it was Mr. Wayne's son that told him about her and Slade living together. _Crap_.

"Which is why you called for an emergency board meeting, I'm guessing," Slade assumed. Judging by the stern looks on their faces, he'd take that as a _yes_. He sighed and looked at Felicity. "Off you go, love."

"I bring coffee then," Felicity smirked daringly at Slade before wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him in to kiss him deeply, much to his surprise. She then released him. "Love you," she laughed before walking away.

Slade entered the conference room and shut the glass door behind him. "Well gentlemen, let's talk."

* * *

"Cisco, you should really change that bandage if you don't want an infection," Caitlin suggested, putting a mug of hot chocolate next to him and sat down. Cisco was sitting in front of his desk, typing away through computer keyboard as fast as a sewing machine.

"I will as soon as Barry sends me every medical and every security footage from all the hospitals from Central City," he said without taking his eyes off the computer screen, "Besides, it's a bruise, not a cut."

"And you think bruises can't get infected too?" Caitlin chuckled, arching her eyebrows. "So, anything on Colton?"

"Not yet," he said.

"And what makes you think that Colton Smoak was here in Central City before heading over to Starling?" she asked.

"Nevada is very far," Cisco explained, "It can take at least days to drive from Nevada to Starling City. He has to make a stop somewhere and my guess is that he resided here in Central where it would take at least a day to get to Starling City by car."

"But do you really think he could have been affected by the particle accelerator?" she asked with a frown, knowing that having the ability to invade people's dreams and kill them (even with the particle accelerator explosion) was impossible. Cisco had already given Colton a codename. Dream Warp. Not bad. It was better than the other names the police were giving him during the killings.

"It's a theory, not a confirmed one, but it's a theory," Cisco said, "Barry will let me know when he actually finds something."

"Hey, where's Dr. Wells?" Caitlin asked while looking around for any signs of Dr. Harrison Wells but couldn't find him anywhere.

 **(Just so you know, since this is following the timeline of Season 2, Dr. Wells is still Eobard Thawne the Reverse Flash in disguise so it's not Dr. Wells from Earth 2)**

"He's not here," Cisco said, sounding unsurprised of his absence these days. "And before you ask, I don't know where he went." He then looked at Caitlin. "Don't you find it weird that he's always disappearing and never tells us where he's going and then he just reappears like some ghost. It's creepy, really."

"Hey, guys, I think you need to see this." Barry voice spoke through the coms that echoed throughout the room. "I found something on the surveillance footage at Central City Morgue."

Cisco frowned at Caitlin strangely. The morgue? "You think you can send them in?" Cisco asked through the coms.

"Yeah, sure."

A few minutes later, the video footage from the surveillance cameras popped up on the screen. It showed the inside of Central City Morgue. The footage was a few weeks old. Inside one of the rooms, there were several bodies lying on silver tables covered in white sheets. The footage looked almost static. Security cameras in the morgue were very old and need of replacement but it was clear for Cisco and Caitlin to see that one of the bodies near the entrance was Colton Smoak's body.

Cisco didn't understand. If Colton was alive right now, why was his body in the Central City Morgue? What the hell? "Are you seeing this?" he asked Caitlin who was looking at the screen in shock.

Colton's body sits up from the silver table, the white sheet slipping off his nude stitched body and making Cisco and Caitlin jump and the hairs on the back of their necks stood up.

"What the literal fuck?" Cisco whispered, his eyes widening.

"That's impossible," Caitlin said, "He shouldn't be alive if they opened up his body and took out his organs."

"Maybe the organs from the body but I don't think they took out his brain," Cisco pointed out, "If Felicity couldn't kill him, that means that the only thing that's keeping him alive is his brain."

"Meaning…"

"It means that if Team Arrow wants to kill Dream Warp, they're going to have to shoot him directly through the brain Walking Dead style or decapitate him," Cisco explained, "I would suggest shooting him in the head since that would damage his brain. If you decapitate him, there's a small chance that his subconscious will remain and I don't think we want that."

The video footage went static for a moment. When the footage came back into place, it showed Colton out of the table and staring directly at the camera. Both Cisco and Caitlin jumped back almost screaming in terror.

"Hell to the no! That's Paranormal Activity shit right there!" Cisco shouted, his heart racing and his hands now shaking. "Nope. Nope. Ain't nobody got time for paranormal bullshit!"

"Are you going to send it to the Arrow?" Caitlin asked. Cisco quickly turned off the footage so he wouldn't have to look at it anymore. It gave them both goosebumps. Also, Cisco feared that Colton might stuck up his hand through the screen to grab him like in Stephen King's _It_.

"Of course I'm going to send this to Team Arrow," he said as he typed on the keyboard as fast as he could. This was becoming crazier every day. First, they had a guy that could kill people from their dreams like Freddy Krueger. They had two assassins wanting to turn either Felicity or Slade into sushi, one of them being his older son Grant. Rachel Roth turning out to be a metahuman with very frightening abilities. And now they had to deal with a possible zombie Colton Smoak. _Not good_. "This guy is a menace. If they don't take care of this _pronto_ , all hell is going to break loose."

* * *

Felicity went to Starbucks across the street which was quite close to Queens Consolidated. She hoped not to have another run-in with her father or Gül. She honestly didn't know which of them were worse. If she had to choose between getting killed by Colton or Gül, Felicity would obviously choose Gül.

She already knew which coffee the investors would want after her last experience with them even if she never brought them coffee. She had them written down, however. Two regular coffee for Oliver and Slade, an espresso for Lex Luthor, a mocha latte for Bruce Wayne and a vanilla latte for Ray Palmer. She also had Dr. Light's coffee written down but since he no longer invested the company, she didn't need to waste time or money. Once its lunch time, she would leave the building and head back home to take Rachel to the zoo like she promised her. Rachel never went to a zoo, Felicity noticed, and she was eager to see the penguins. She wanted to see the penguins so badly. It was hard to say no to a kid that never went to the zoo before. It was an obligatory activity for childhood and Felicity was more than willing to fulfill that obligatory activity.

She hated leaving Slade and Oliver alone to face the investors but it wasn't any of her business. She was Black Canary when at the Clock Tower but out of her costume, she had a different role to play which was the quirky and cute babbling secretary. Of course, after a while, she didn't feel like the same babbling girl she used to be. She was now feeling like the girl she used to be in college, the confident Goth girl with an attitude, the kind of persona she swore she left behind after Cooper's death yet still crept back up when she put of the Black Canary costume. She was still wearing Sara's costume. She hadn't opened the box Cisco gave her. She was nervous of doing so, afraid of what he had for her.

Felicity ordered the coffee. She had to wait at least five minute for them to serve coffee. "Anything yet, Dig?" Felicity asked with her hand to her ear where the earpiece was.

" _I just got an email from Cisco_ ," Diggle informed, " _Colton was in Central City when the particle accelerator exploded, just like he said. But Colton wasn't at a hospital. He was at the Central City Morgue_."

She felt her heart drop to her stomach _. The morgue?_ "H-he was dead?" she stuttered.

" _According to the reports, Colton was leaving Central City when the particle accelerator exploded and the shockwave caused him to crash his car_ ," Diggle informed, " _He was declared dead at 3 a.m. But Cisco sent me a video, showing Colton walking out of the morgue alive_."

"How is that even possible?" Felicity asked, her heart pounding and her hand holding the phone shaking.

" _That's what we're trying to find out_ ," Diggle said.

Felicity shook her head. "I don't care how he became a metahuman," she said, "I just want him found and I want him gone."

" _Gone as in, out of Starling City or **dead**?_ " Diggle asked, sounding serious about what she's talking about.

Felicity never wanted anyone dead before. She always told Oliver and Slade that killing was not an option. But Colton was more than just a criminal. He was a monster. He was worse than the boogeyman that would supposedly hide in her closet or under her bed in the middle of the night, ready to snatch her with sharp claws.

"I want him dead, Dig," she said before hanging up the phone.

"Miss Smoak."

Felicity jumped at the sound of her last name being mentioned. It was a woman calling her. For a second, she thought it might be Gül but when she turned around, it wasn't Gül. It was actually Bruce Wayne's date, the one she met at the masquerade party Slade held at the Merlyn Mansion. Diana Prince. She wasn't wearing that stunning wine-coloured dress she wore at the party. Instead, she was wearing a white blazer and a matching skirt with a golden collar around her neck.

"M-Miss Prince," Felicity stuttered in surprise. "It's surprised to see you again. I didn't know you were still in Starling City."

Diana smiled at her politely. "Mr. Wayne and I never left Starling City. He and I just had business to attend and we left the party early."

"I'm guessing it was an emergency then if you and Mr. Wayne left so early," Felicity figured. She didn't think Miss Prince would be in places like this. She would imagine Diana Prince going somewhere more expensive than Starbucks. Of course, what can be more expensive than Starbucks?

Diana sighed at Felicity's words. "Indeed. Would you like to sit with me?"

"Oh, I would but I'm just here for the coffee and I'm on my way back to Queens Consolidated. The coffees aren't just mine. One is for Mr. Luthor, the other is for Mr. Palmer, Mr. Wayne, Mr. Queen and Mr. Wilson," Felicity said. It wasn't an excuse. She knew she would get in trouble if she brought back the coffee cold and she didn't want to be glared at for it.

"It will only take a few minutes," Diana said as she sat down next to the table she was sitting previously. "I insist."

Felicity bit her lower lip. She already knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman thanks to Damian. It could be possible that Diana knew who Batman was too. Could Diana only be in Starbucks just to shut Felicity up into telling anyone Bruce Wayne was Batman?

Nevertheless, Felicity sat down across the table, her hands folded on her lap. She noticed a plate of bagel in front of Diana and a large coffee next to it. "So, were you buying Mr. Wayne's coffee?" she asked awkwardly.

"Not really," she said, "I excused myself from him and bought my own. It's been an exhausting week for me and for him, dealing with incompetent companies that only have means to make worthless investments or simply steal profits from Wayne Enterprises."

"That bad, huh?" Felicity asked. Diana nodded in agreement. "You know, you can always trust Queens Consolidated."

"Forgive me but wasn't Queens Consolidated run by the same woman who was responsible for the Undertaking?" Diana asked.

 _Oh shit. I do not know how to answer that. At all_. "Good point. Of course, Malcolm Merlyn was also the mastermind of the entire thing so there's that. But I can assure you that Queens Consolidated is in good hands now so there's no need to worry."

Diana arched her eyebrow at Felicity. "Miss Smoak, the company is now being run by a man who tried to kill Oliver Queen, the previous CEO of the company who was being accused of first-degree murder against his girlfriend Sara Lance, and almost shot you to death." Felicity stared at her with a shocked look. How did she know about that? "It was all over the news. Everyone knows about it, including the investors."

"He shot me because I stood in the way and took the bullet for Mr. Queen," she correct Diana, "I didn't want Mr. Queen to die nor did I want Mr. Wilson making a mistake. I chose to get shot."

"Not to mention that you supposedly got possessed," Diana chuckled. Felicity had to smile to herself, knowing how crazy it was even if true. It was that very reason why she believed the judge let Oliver go. _Because we're a bunch of nutjobs_.

"You don't believe that, do you?"

"Oh believe, Miss Smoak, I've seen worse. Trust me," Diana chuckled. "But I am concerned for you well-being. I understand that it's none of my business but judging by the events that have been happening over the past few days, I'm afraid that it is my business and that of Bruce Wayne's."

Felicity stares at Diana wide-eyed. _Does she know? Does she?_ "Um, Miss Prince —you don't mind if I call you Diana, right?" When Diana shook her head, Felicity continued talking. "Can we just be honest with each other for once?...You know what I've been doing over the past few days. You know I'm the Black Canary, don't you?"

"…Yes."

* * *

"Give us a good reason why we should keep investing the company, Mr. Wilson," Bruce Wayne demanded almost showing anger but he was as stoic as ever.

"This company has so much potential, gentlemen," Slade said, his hands clamped behind his back, "It would be such a waste to let it fall. I have not given up on it just yet."

"Well, I'm afraid that Mr. Wayne and Mr. Palmer and I agreed that can no longer invest our money on a company run by someone who nearly murdered the former owner of Queens Consolidated," Lex Luthor said while staring at Oliver Queen who was standing in a corner, watching the entire event. "We don't want to stain our company name by working with a criminal.

Slade chuckled darkly and smirked. "I figure you'd say something like that, Mr. Luthor which is why I have made a decision that would both save this company and your reputation. I am stepping down from my position as CEO of Queens Consolidated."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Lex Luthor said, trying to hide a smirk. The others were serious about this. Oliver, on the other hand, was shocked by Slade's decision.

"You do realize that if you step down from your position, Mr. Wilson, you're obligated to either sell the company or name a CEO," Ray Palmer said.

"I understand," Slade said, "As always, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Wayne, Mr. Luthor, I have a plan. I'm assigning a new CEO to the company, someone I can trust raising this company. Mr. Queen."

Everyone looked Oliver in surprise. Even Oliver didn't expect it. He awkwardly walked over to the front and stood next to Slade.

"I'm handing you my authority as CEO of Queens Consolidated," Slade said, grabbing Oliver by the hand and shaking it firmly. "We'll have time to discuss papers later. Right now, Queens Consolidated belongs to you once more."

"You're returning the company to the man whom you tried to kill, who allegedly killed his girlfriend and who's mother was responsible for the Undertaking at the Glades," Lex Luthor said in disbelief. Bruce Wayne simply chuckled. And Slade thought nothing could make that man laugh.

"Mr. Queen and I had our differences yes, but we both decided to put our differences aside for the sake of the company," he lied. He and Oliver both knew they weren't settling their differences because of Queens Consolidated. They were doing it for Felicity. But mostly for himself, knowing that carrying a grudge against Oliver forever will never do him good. To do so, he needed to keep his distance from Queens Consolidated.

"It sounds like a good idea," Bruce Wayne said, "Once Mr. Queen is in charge of Queens Consolidated once more, we can discuss plans on keeping this company afloat."

"Thank you, Mr. Wilson," Oliver said. Slade patted him on the back

"Good luck," he said. Slade actually felt happy giving up the company. It was already stressing him out and taking a toll on him. He was already a mercenary. He couldn't have two jobs at the same time. It would drive more insane than he was now. Plus he was taking care two wonderful women at home. Having two jobs and not having time for the girls would never be a good thing. It was too much weight on his shoulders. "Gentlemen," he bowed before leaving the office but not without giving the middle finger to a sulky Lex Luthor.

* * *

"It's almost time, Mr. Smoak," one of the hitmen said while preparing the grenade he would throw soon. "Should we begin the attack?"

"Not yet," Colton said while sitting in the passenger's seat of a white van, smiling to himself as he contemplated with his plans. He would have Felicity, even if he had to eliminate the people she cared about most to have her. "Felicity leaves work at lunch time. Once it's exactly 12 o' clock then we can begin the attack."

He took the binoculars in his hands and looked through them, staring at a very specific mansion just a few feet away.

* * *

"I know that you're Black Canary. I know that Oliver Queen is the Arrow and I also know that Slade Wilson is Deathstroke and also you're lover," Diana pointed out while taking a sip of her coffee. "Of course, I'm guessing you're not the original Black Canary. The last time I saw a woman dressed in the same black suit, she was more involved in fights and not sided off. I'm guessing the original Black Canary was your friend Sara."

"I filled in for her after her death," Felicity admitted, "I know that I'm the least qualified to be the Black Canary but I know that if I want to avenge her death and take down the bastard that killed her, I need to get my head out of my ass and pick up where she left off - I'm sorry but how did you find out about me and Slade. And Oliver. Did Nightwing tell you? Or do you already know who Nightwing is too?"

Diana let out a little laugh in amusement. "Robin told me. Nightwing doesn't know that he told me."

Felicity mentally face-palmed. _I should have known it was Damian_. "Next thing you're going to tell me you're Wonder Woman or something?"

Diana simply stared at Felicity and her eyes widened in shock.

"You've got to be kidding me," Felicity said. Diana didn't say anything. "Seriously? You're her? You mean, you - You're her." she stammered, freaking out. "No. No. How is that even - Oh God. You have got to be freaking kidding me. Why? I mean, why me? Why is it always me?"

"And I thought Batman and Robin were the world's greatest detectives," Diana complimented as she took another sip of her coffee, "To be honest, Damian was actually surprised finding out that you were Black Canary," she said, "He didn't think someone like you can be out in the field as the Canary."

"I'm sorry. This is too fast for me," Felicity waved her hands around and stuttered. "J-just give me a sec to process this. Let me guess this straight." She pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned as if she were having a headache. "You're _her_ and Bruce Wayne is _him_. So the rumors of a bat vigilante are true. And now a woman that can fly and wield a sword. So everything I've been listening the news are true. Holy shit. I'll be honest with you, you're not exactly what I expected."

"You expected me dressed differently?" Diana smiled.

"Yep. But no offence, you look good dressed in normal clothes," Felicity said, "I mean, I don't think you'd like to draw attention where the attire you wear to save the world."

"Well, the metal gets heavy from time to time and the wind makes my thighs cold so yes, I rather dress like this any other day if wasn't saving the day all the time," Diana said and Felicity chuckled.

"Can I ask exactly why you're here? I know that it sounds a bit direct but I just want to know," Felicity asked. She was actually worried that Diana, or Wonder Woman or whoever she was, would know about the incident at S.T.A.R. Labs with Rachel. If she already knew about Felicity being Black Canary, there was a good chance that Damian could have told her about Rachel. "I'm guessing you already knew I was here and you were simply waiting for me to arrive."

"I'm just here to make sure that your decision to be Black Canary wasn't brash," she said, "Over the past couple of days, we've been watching you and the rest of your team on duty and let's just say that your skills are -."

"Trash?"

"Undertraining is to put it most lightly," Diana said, "You're putting yourself in danger plus you are allied with the world's most dangerous assassin."

"Actually, I'm not allied with him. We're living together," Felicity explained, "We're, um, together."

Diana sighed upon hearing this. "I owe Bruce 50 dollars then."

 _Did they actually put a bet on whether Slade and I were sleeping together or not? Oh wow. That's just cold_ , Felicity thought.

"Listen, I'm not really risking myself," she explained, "Since I'm new to this, Oliver and Slade simply have me one-sided at the moment, using me as bait and to keep an eye on things. At least until I learn how to fight properly. I'd use my scream as much as I want but my throat gets exhausted every time I do so I have to learn to defend myself if I want to be out in the field. People can't really expect for me to learn everything in one night. Sara didn't know how to fight either, except that was _before_ she took the mantle of the Black Canary."

Diana smiled. "I wasn't born a natural fighter either. It took time for me to take a sword. Back when I was a young offspring, I could barely chop down a piece of wood. As I grew older, I became stronger and stronger until I was finally able to chop through stone. They say that heroes are born but that is a completely lie. Heroes are not born. They are made. And you? You're barely half-made."

Felicity bit her lower lip. "I guess I should have seen that part coming," she mumbles, "So what are you trying to tell me? That I should stop trying to be Black Canary."

"I did not say that, Miss Smoak or do you mind if I call you Felicity?" Diana asked. When Felicity shook her head, Diana continued. "All I'm saying is that you should be more cautious if this is something you already decided."

"It is my final decision, Diana, and I'm not changing my mind about it," Felicity said. She had already made the decision of being Black Canary for Sara a long time ago and she wasn't going to let anyone change her mind, not even Diana Prince whom knew Oliver Queen was the Arrow and that Slade Wilson was Deathstroke.

"I'm trying to advice you to be careful, that's all," Diana said more harshly, "Being a hero is not a game. Trust me, I know from personal experience. People around you can get hurt or die, and it will hurt. Very badly."

"I know that it's not a game, Diana. Do you mind if I call you Diana?" Felicity said. Diana shook her head and Felicity continued. "I know the risks. I know that my life and the life of the people around me are at risk but I know that I want this. Being out there in the field is the only way I can protect my loved ones."

"And Slade?" Diana said, "Slade has been a dangerous man for years. Do you really believe he's changed? Do you really think he won't kill you in your sleep when he has the chance."

"He has changed -."

"Because of you, Felicity," she interrupted her before she could say anything else, "The only reason why Slade stopped killing is because of you. Do you not I have not noticed? I have. I am aware that he loves you. But try to understand, do you believe that he can stay by your side for long? If you do something that will anger him, he'll believe that you betrayed him and will no longer love you. Or worse. If you die, Slade anger and hatred will grow worse than before." Diana took her hand. "Not everything good lasts forever."

"I really don't know what to tell you," Felicity said. She had no words for Diana. Except for a few. _I can make it last as much as I want_. But didn't have the guts to say it.

The barista behind the counter called out Felicity's name, telling her that coffees were ready. _Good_. I don't think I can talk to her any longer. She knew that Diana meant well but she already had too many people judge her and Slade. Judging her for supposedly being unfit to be Black Canary and judging Slade for his past life. She awkwardly stood up and padded down the skirt of her dress. "I have to go. It was nice talking to you, Miss Prince."

Felicity walked over to the counter where a bag of coffees was waiting for her. She grabbed the bag and headed out.

"Miss Smoak." Felicity turned around, Diana now standing before her. She nearly jumped. She watched Diana reach for something in a golden purse she was carrying and took out what looked like a card. "There's an offer as well. An offer that can be saved for another time, once you and your team have your situation settled." Diana said while placing the card in Felicity's hand. "Call me if you need anything."

"Like with what?"

"Anything. Training. Rescuing. Or your child," Diana said. Felicity's eyes had popped wide when she said that. _Oh my God, she knows about Rachel?_ _And that means Bruce probably knows it too. Damian must have told them. Damn it, Damian, what have you done?_

She left Starbucks and headed back to Queens Consolidated. She had to tell Slade about this, warn him about Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince knowing what happened at Central City.

She looked both ways before crossing the streets. Her phone rang. Once she got to the other side of the road, she answer the called. It was Wintergreen, Slade's friend, the old man who was babysitting Rachel while she and Slade were at work.

"Hey, is everything all right back there?" she asked.

" _Well, your cat bit me twice this morning but other than that everything is fine_ ," Wintergreen said through the phone.

"Did Rachel eat breakfast this morning?" she asked through the phone.

" _Why yes_ , _she did_ ," he said, " _She's been very eager to go to the zoo. She hasn't stop talking about it since she woke up. She even named all of the penguins, in English and in Latin_."

"It looks like she knows her penguins," she chuckled. "Please make sure she wears sunscreen."

" _That may be a problem, Miss Smoak_ ," Wintergreen said, " _She's been refusing to put on sunscreen_."

Felicity sighed. She knew something like that was going to happen, talking about from personal experience. "Put me on speaker, if you're using a cellphone, that is."

" _I am. Very well_." Felicity waited for a couple moments before Wintergreen spoke through the phone again. " _You're on speaker_."

"Rachel, if you don't put on the sunscreen, we're not going to the zoo," Felicity said as she finally walked into the building.

Rachel's meekly and now whiny voice spoke through the phone. " _I don't want to put on sunscreen. It's sticky and it smells weird_."

"Well, I don't want you coming back home looking like a lobster so could you please put on sunscreen," Felicity showed her ID card to the security guard before she was allowed in. "If you put on sunscreen, I'll buy you ice cream."

" _Mint chocolate chip?_ "

"If you put on sunscreen then yes."

" _Okay. I will_."

"Wintergreen, make sure she gets it everywhere, including her face," Felicity instructed, "I don't care if it's sticky and it smells bad - Slade." Just as the elevator doors opened, she was surprised to find Slade stepping out of it. "I have to go, Wintergreen. I'll call back on my way home." She hung up the cellphone and stared at Slade in surprise. _Wasn't he in a board meeting?_ "Slade? What's going on? Did you get fired or something?"

Slade shook his head. "No, love." He leaned forward and kissed her. "I quit."

"You did _what_?" Felicity backed up in surprise. "You quit? But what's going happen to the company now? If you quit, who will be in charge of the investors?"

"Don't worry, I've already taken care of it," Slade assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I've placed the company under the authority of its current owner."

Felicity's eyes widened when he said this. "You gave the company back to Oliver? Holy shit! I did not expect that."

Slade smirked at her. "You'll be surprised the things I can do."

"You never ceased to impress me, Slade Wilson." Felicity smiled and stood on her toes to kiss him again. Slade giving Oliver back the company was the most generous thing he could have ever done and she was proud of him for it. She didn't care what Diana says about him. _Slade loves me and I love him. He's a good man and he's changed for the better_.

Their phones started to beep frantically. Both of their phones. They looked at their phones. It was Wintergreen.

"How can Wintergreen be calling us both at the same time?" Felicity asked, looking back at Slade puzzled. Slade's eye then widened.

"Wintergreen isn't calling us, love," he said, "That's the panic button."

"Oh my God," she gasped. She gave the bag of coffee to the security guard and instructed him to take them to the conference room before she and Slade left Queens Consolidated running.

* * *

"Make sure you get it everywhere on your face," Wintergreen said once he finally got Rachel to put on sunscreen after so many refusals. He had to admit though, it did smell weird. It was out of date. "Next time I'm making sure your mother buys a fresh bottle. You're right. This one smells odd."

Rachel giggled as she continued to rub the sunscreen on her face. "Told ya."

They suddenly heard Slade's men yelling to one another, barking out orders and Rachel watched in confusion as one of the guards inside the house told the rest to stay inside to stand guard before going outside to check what was happening outside. Rachel squealed and covered her ears when she heard gunshots.

Wintergreen pressed the panic button that was under the island countertop before grabbing Rachel in his arms and headed for the guards at the foyer. The guard that had left returned.

"What the bloody hell is going on!?" Wintergreen snapped.

"Men are trying to break in, sir," the guard said, "It's best if you take the girl upstairs and lock yourselves in."

"Give me one of your guns," Wintergreen said. He didn't wait for the guard to ask why. He simply snatched one of the guns while carrying Rachel in the other arm. "Don't think I'm just going to sit up there waiting to get shot."

He then ran upstairs.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked fearfully as Wintergreen continued running down the hallway.

"We're going to hide in Slade's bedroom. There's a secret compartment inside the closet. You'll be safe in there," he explained.

"And you?"

"I'm afraid I'll stay outside and keep guard," he said as the made it to the bedroom and he opened the door to the closet. "You open it up and get inside. Don't come out until I come back. Or until your mother arrives."

"You're not coming back, are you?" she asked seriously.

Wintergreen shook his head lamentably. "If things get too bad, I'm afraid not. Come here." He brought Rachel in an embrace. It had been so long since he hugged a child her age. Joey and Grant. They were like grandkids to him. He didn't care if his brother was the godfather of Joey, William loved Joey more than Billy did. William Wintergreen released Rachel. "Now stay here and don't make a sound."

"But -."

"I'm not losing another kid here!" he snapped, shaking her and pushed her into the closet and slammed the door in her face. He already failed at protecting Joey and Grant, he wasn't going to fail at this one.

He left the bedroom and closed the door shut. He heard more gunshots from downstairs along with more yelling from both Slade's men and the intruders. Wintergreen didn't know how many of Slade's men were going down or how many of the intruders are there but knew that he couldn't let the intruders anywhere upstairs. He raced to the top of the stairs, the gun already ready to shoot. He saw some of Slade's men on the floor, either dead or unconscious. Death is less likely since they all had Mirakuru in their veins so knocked out was more likely to happen. Some of the intruders were dead as well but more were arriving at the front door.

"I'm only going to say this once you sons of bitches," Wintergreen warned as he aimed the gun at them. "Get the fuck out of my house!" And fired the gun. Bullets flew at the intruders, taking three of them down and injured another.

But one who was hiding behind the staircase appeared and shot his gun twice. One of the bullets hit Wintergreen in the neck while the other hit his ribcage. Wintergreen coughed up blood before he went tumbling down the stairs and landed dead at the bottom.

In the closet upstairs, Rachel felt Wintergreen's death. Tears dripped down her eyes as she heard his heart stop beating. Even if she had her ears covered, she heard the gunshots and heard a body fall down the stairs. Everything went silent after that. Maybe they left.

Rachel got out of the closet and out of the bedroom when Wintergreen told her not to. She wanted to see if he was really dead. When she reached to the stairs, she immediately regretted it when she saw Wintergreen's body lying dead at the bottom of the stairs with blood pouring out of his neck. She looked at the man who shot him, a bald man with a black skull tattooed on the back of his hand, and her eyes turned black again.

Rachel screams angrily and the man that killed Wintergreen exploded, his head blowing up like a balloon and blood splattering all over the floor.

Once the man died, Rachel descended down the stairs to Wintergreen. She kneeled next to him and shook him, trying to wake him up but he didn't. He was dead, just as she sensed. Rachel placed her hands to her face and sobbed.

"You little bitch!" Rachel lifted up her head to see one of the other men pointing a gun at her but he was sent back to the ground by a loud screech, a screech not belonging to Rachel.

The little girl turned around to see Felicity and Slade standing behind her, Felicity wearing the Black Canary suit and Slade wearing the Deathstroke suit. Of course, Felicity's suit was different. It was a full black leather suit and not just jacket, pants and corset shirt. She was also wearing the collar Cisco made her. And she wasn't wearing a mask this time or her glasses.

Felicity ran over to Rachel and picked her up from the floor while Slade marched over to the man that tried to shoot her and grabbed him by the neck, his iron grip choking him.

"Look away, honey," Felicity covered Rachel's eyes so she wouldn't have to see and looked away herself as well as Slade slammed the man against the wall repeatedly before throwing him down to the ground where he proceeded to punch the man until his nose bled. "Slade? Slade please stop," Felicity pleaded weakly for him to stop hitting the man but she knew that she couldn't stop him as he proceeded to grab a lamp and repeatedly bashed the man in the face with the base of it until his face was crushed and even in death, he continued beating the man's face.

"Oh my God," Felicity gasped when she saw the carnage Slade created but remained covering Rachel's eyes so she wouldn't have to look.

Slade slowly stood up straight and turned to Felicity, his mask speckled in blood.

Felicity looked down at Wintergreen's dead body and sobbed profusely. "Oh my God! No! No!"

"William," Slade nearly cried out as he approached his friend's body. Slade removed his mask and kneeled next to the body. "Those son of bitches. I'm going to kill every single one of them."

"I'm sorry, Slade!" Rachel cried, "He told me to stay upstairs and he got shot to keep them from climbing up. And I didn't do nothing to help him."

"Don't worry yourself, kid, you didn't do anything wrong," Slade muttered as he stood up and looked over at the other body who was missing his head, blood staining the carpeted floor and chunks of brain scattered everywhere with skull shards. Felicity gasped when she saw an eyeball next to her boot. "What the hell happened here?" Slade asked while looking at the mess. He then looked at Rachel. "Did _you_ do this?"

"I didn't mean to do it. I swear," Rachel said.

Slade shook his head and caressed her cheek. "You're not in trouble."

He knelt next to the headless body and checked his uniform for any identification or anything that could help him find out whom the people were working for. He then found what he was looking for. There was a black skull tattoo on the back of the man's hand. Shit. That bastard.

"What's that, Slade?" Felicity asked as she also noticed the tattoo.

"Rachel, did anyone else had the same tattoo?" he asked without turning to look at her.

"The man who tried to shoot me before Felicity screamed at him," Rachel informed.

"And I bet everyone of those men had the same tattoo," Slade muttered to himself.

"Slade, do you know these men?" Felicity asked.

"Yes," Slade said, "These people work for the Black Mask."

"Who's Black Mask?" Felicity asked.

"He's a crime lord in Gotham City," Slade explained, "He hates me."

"He knew where we lived?" Felicity asked fearfully.

"It's impossible. I made sure he wouldn't find me. Ever. Unless..." Slade muttered and looked back at Felicity. "Someone must have told him."

"Who do you think could have told him?"

"Someone who hates me and I think a lot of people hate me. But hate me enough to send men to break into the house to shoot an old man and little girl? It's unlike of him. He's more direct."

"Maybe he wanted to kill Wintergreen and Rachel to hurt us," Felicity tried to figure it out as well.

Slade shook his head. "Us? No. The Black Mask never heard of you or Rachel so why would he...? I don't think it was Black Mask who hired them."

Felicity's eyes widened at the realization. "Colton."

* * *

 **Comment? Please?**

 **Well, guys, here you have it. This is not my best work. I'm recently getting back in the game after exams but I hope you guys liked it.**

 **Colton is now playing cat-and-mouse with Felicity and Slade is now going back to his savage ways now that Colton went as far as killing the only family he had left.**

 **And since Colton almost had Rachel killed, Felicity is going down a dark path. So be prepared for what's coming because she'll be doing a lot of questionable things after this.**


	40. Chapter 40: Cold

**Here's the next chapter to _Black Smoak_. Enjoy.**

 ** _Disclaimer_ : I do not own Arrow or its characters. **

* * *

The train stopped at the station at exactly 12 p.m. in the afternoon. As soon as the metal doors slid open, people came out of it like ants in an anthill. Among the passengers walking were a man and a woman holding hands as they walked away from the station with the man holding a luggage in one hand and holding his love's hand with the other. The woman had blonde hair curling down her shoulders and was dressed in a black trench coat with ankle-length boots, leather gloves, a black sun hat and purple round sunglasses. The man had black hair and light brown skin and was dressed in a dark grey suit like some sort of businessman and was also wearing sunglasses.

The woman brought her hand up to her ear where a small device was hidden. "We're here."

" _Are you sure you and Slade can handle this on your own?_ " a voice speaks through the device.

"I'm sure, Dig," she said. "Just do what I told you to get us in, okay?"

" _Will do_ ," Diggle said.

"Oh, and make sure Oliver doesn't give her Coke, it's bad for the kidney," she said as she and Slade stopped at the sidewalk and Slade signal for a taxicab.

" _You're overreacting_ ," Diggle said.

"Read the newspapers, it's true."

" _You read?_ "

"Shut up." She smirked.

Finally, a taxicab stopped and Felicity hung up as they got in the back of the car. Felicity sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in exhaustion. She hadn't slept much since Wintergreen died and the thought of Colton sending people to attack them was most frightening. She couldn't even walk across the street for a cup of coffee without the thought of being stabbed in the throat by a bystander.

"Are you sure you want to do this, love?" Slade asked in concern, knowing that this whole Colton thing was taking a toll on her and she may be risking herself by doing this sort of thing. He was still upset about William Wintergreen's death but he was more concerned about Felicity's state of mind.

"Yes," she said firmly. She had already made the decision a while ago, just as she made the decision of being Black Canary. This was her decision and hers alone. "If anyone can find him, he can. We don't have much time, now do we?"

"Indeed," Slade sighed.

"What brings you two to Gotham?" the driver asked.

"A friend," Felicity said out loud now, "It's been a while since I've seen him and I promised I'd visit."

"Where to then?" the driver asked again.

"...Arkham Asylum."

* * *

 _ **52 hours ago...**_

 _William Randolph Wintergreen's body was now inside the coffin, being lowered down into the tomb with the priest blessing him and mumbling things Slade couldn't understand. It's obvious he was speaking in Latin. Felicity reclined her head against his shoulder and sobbed, no longer being able to hold back her tears. She left Rachel with Lyla. She didn't think Rachel could tolerate seeing another body._

 _This is all my fault, Felicity thought as she picked up a hand full of dirt and tossed it at the coffin at the bottom of the tomb. She knew that Wintergreen wasn't Jewish but it felt right. She felt sorry for what happened to him. He helped when she got stabbed by Colton and this was how she repaid him, getting him killed by men that worked for a man called the Black Mask. For some reason, Slade knew about the Black Mask. The question was how he knew the Black Mask?_

 _At the end of the funeral, they headed back to the car._

 _"His real name is Roman Sionis but many call him the Black Mask. He is the_ _reigning kingpin of the Gotham underworld_ _," Slade explained to her, "He is the first crime lord to take control of the entire city. He is a short-tempered men and usually punches before asking questions. Whatever he wants he gets. But whatever motives he has to attack Wintergreen and Rachel, doubt he's after you love. He's after me. The question is how?"_

 _"It must have been Colton, Slade," Felicity figured, "Since he knows I never leave your side. Well, actually you're the one stuck to me like a magnet, it's possible that Colton was trying to find away for us to get separated, which includes telling your whereabouts to the Black Mask."_

 _"That's a possibility," Slade nodded in agreement._

 _"And my father is a man of negotiation, he wouldn't simply tell your whereabouts to the Black Mask. He would have wanted something in return from the Black Mask," she guessed. "Like the hitmen that entered Merlyn Mansion. The question is why? What is Colton gaining by making negotiations with a crime lord, aside from getting me of course. What do his plans have to do with me?"_

 _"That's what we're going to find out, love," Slade put his arm around Felicity's shoulders but she immediately pushed him away._

 _"No," she cried, "Once we get back home, if it's still a home, I'm going back to my apartment and you are packing your things and you're leaving Starling City, and you're taking Rachel with you."_

 _"That's never going to happen, Felicity," Slade said sternly._

 _"Then I'll leave -."_

 _"No!" he snapped._

 _"Slade, Colton is after me. Me. You guys are just being used as pawns and if you or anyone else around dies because of me, I - I don't know what to do anymore. I'll never forgive myself -."_

 _"Enough," Slade shook her, stopping her nervous babble. She was having another panic attack and Slade had to stop her before she could suffer a breakdown. "Felicity, I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you. You fear for us and that is understandable but running won't solve anything and you know this very well. This is what your father wants, to be afraid."_

 _Felicity took a few breaths before she finally managed to calm down. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just, scared."_

 _"I know, love. So am I but you must be calm. Please."_

 _She nodded. "Okay."_

 _"Felicity. Mr. Wilson." They both turned around to see Detective Lance approaching them. Clouds were turning dark, threating to pour rain on them in any second._

 _"Quentin," Felicity said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"_

 _"First of all, Mr. Wilson, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend," Detective Lance said and Slade nodded his head. He then turned his attention to Felicity. "And second, we need to talk at the station immediately."_

 _"Talk about what?" Felicity asked._

 _"It's about Colton," Detective Lance said. Felicity and Slade looked at each other in concern before looking back at the detective. "I think you two need to come down to the station and see this."_

* * *

"Now for my next trick, I will make this man's pudding disappear." Jerome announced while standing on top of the lunch table. He grabbed one of the pudding cups from his inmates and began to it. "Ta-da. It's gone!" The inmate that got his pudding stolen turned red in the face and started chasing Jerome through the lunch room while the others laughed.

"I knew you'd still pull of that old trick. You used to do that to me when we were kids."

Jerome turned around to see a blonde girl behind the chain-link gate outside the lunchroom, wearing a black trench coat, sun hat and glasses. The other men in the lunch room whistled at her but she ignored them. She took off her sunglasses, revealing a familiar face only Jerome recognized. He smiled broadly.

"Felicity Megan Smoak," he said as he slowly slinked over to the chain-link gate and slammed his hands against it. But Felicity didn't even flinch.

"Wow, you haven't changed a bit," she smiled. Jerome's smile fell. Felicity signaled to the guard to let him out. The guard hesitated but nevertheless, he opened the gate and let Jerome out of the lunch room and quickly closed the gate as soon as the inmates were rising from their tables.

Felicity and Jerome hugged each other tightly. "God, I missed you so much," Felicity said.

* * *

 _"What's this all about?" Felicity asked as she and Slade entered Detective Lance's office._

 _"Detective Joe West and Eddie Thawne were investigating an incident that happened at Central City a few days ago and I think it concerns you, Felicity," Detective Lance said._

 _"But Slade and I were just in Central City the day after, why didn't they say anything?" she asked._

 _"You two were in Central City?" Detective Lance frowned at them both. **I rest my case** , Felicity thought as she and Slade sat down across the other side of the desk._

 _"Can you please help us out? We don't really know what's happening right now." She was really nervous. She didn't know why she and Slade were at the SCPD for. He said it was important._

 _"Felicity, do you remember a guy named Thomas Harris?"_

 _Hearing the name, Felicity froze. She knew the name. Thomas Harris, also known as Tom Harris. He was one of Colton's friends. She remembered him approaching her and Donna, apologizing and offering condolences over Evelyn's death. Felicity was very small at that time but remembered very much how sorry Thomas was about her death. And he looked like he wanted to tell her something but didn't get to say it. He took off._

 _"Yeah, I remember. We called him Tom," she said, "What about him?"_

 _"He was found dead in his home, along with his wife and daughters," he sighed._

 _Her eyes widened in shock. Tom is dead? She looked at Slade worriedly. "Um, Quentin, how did he died?"_

 _"That's the problem," Detective Lance said, "No one knows how they died. They were -."_

 _"Asleep?"_

 _Quentin nodded in agreement. He showed her and Slade photographs of the crime scene with Tom on the floor with his arms above his head and opened wide while the wife and kids were in their beds, looking asleep when they were actually dead. **Oh God**. _

_"What's weird is that he's the only one that was moved," Quentin continued explained. "CCPD also went upstairs to the attic of his house to see if they can find anything and they found this in a box."_

 _He handed another photograph to her. Felicity looked at the picture closely. It was an old group photo, possibly from the late 80's to early 90's_ _. Nine to ten men posing in front of a local pub, smiling broadly at the camera. Felicity recognized one of the men to be Thomas Harris and the other one to be...Colton. Her hand shook as the image of her father smiling back at her sent chills down her spine. Slade had to carefully pry it away from her fingers and gave it back to Quentin._

 _"She shouldn't be seeing this," Slade said and placed and assuring hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, love. It's all right."_

 _"I know that this is a bad time but there's a good chance that your father is involved in these deaths," Quentin said, "Samuel Brawn and Vincent O'Connor. They're in the photo two and their names are on the back and they were dead weeks before. There were other two men dead, that makes five. Daniel Goodwin. Jeffrey Coleman. They're also in the photo as well as their names."_

 _"So Colton is targeting the people he was with in the photos," Slade said in suspicion, "Why so?"_

 _"Because, they're my father's friends," Felicity explained to him, "They took that photograph at the pub where Aunt Donna used to work. That's where she and my uncle Michael met. My mother and Colton met at a nightclub. But why? Why would Colton be targeting people he used to consider as his brothers?"_

 _"I'm guessing it has to do with you, Felicity," Quentin said, "I need you to look at these photos and tell me what you see."_

 _Quentin showed her more photos of dead men. She already saw Thomas Harris' body. His body was laid out on the floor in the shape of a **Y**. Samuel Brawn was hanging from the ceiling but could see clearly that it was in the shape of an **I**. Vincent O'Connor was an **F** with his arm ripped off from the socket and positioned. Daniel Goodwin was an **E**. And Jeffrey Coleman was an **O**. Felicity studied them for a moment before putting them on the table and began to shuffle them like cards. _

_"What is she doing?" Quentin asked Slade._

 _"I have no idea," he said._

 _Felicity finally stopped. "Do the math." Quentin and Slade looked closely. F E _ I _ _ _ Y _ _ O _ _ . "It's a game he and I used to play when I was little. The hangman game."_

* * *

"You've changed so much, Felicity. You even dyed your hair blonde," Jerome smiled. _At least he remembered I had black hair once_. He was handcuffed due to policy plus the ones in charge of Gotham thought he was too dangerous to roam free without being restrained first.

 _How pale he looks_ , Felicity thought. It had been years since he saw Jerome and he never was this pale. Being here in Arkham Asylum really did change him. Or was it the bucket of chemicals he fell into. She couldn't tell. Of course, Felicity knew that it wasn't just Arkham Asylum. It was his mother too; she did _this_ to him. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. I didn't think you'd end up in a place like this."

"Hmm. I'm glad you're the only one who doesn't think I'm a monster," he chuckled. "As I said to the Batsy before, it takes one bad day for one to become someone like me."

"But if you are aware, that means that you're not that crazy, or am I wrong?" Felicity asked.

"You are wrong, my dear friend," Jerome explained, "Being crazy doesn't have to do with being aware of it or not. I have always been aware of the things I've done. Like killing my mother. Paralyzing the police's daughter. Beating a boy to death with a crowbar. Driving a therapist to fall madly in love with me with all the tales I tell her even if not all them are true. I always knew what I was doing. I just didn't care."

Felicity gulped, knowing how cold his response was.

Jerome chuckled at her wide-eyed expression. "Let's be honest for a moment here, Felicity. You'd be better off dead than me killing you. I feel like I'm a savior than a murderer if you think about it. I'm waking everyone up with my methods. This world is already too fucked up as it is. Every waking moment, someone snaps and another one gets killed by the very person. This world is just full of madness. It's a hidden bomb waiting to explode. It's only a matter of time before it detonates. Me? I'm just a mirror to them, a reminder of what they'll become."

"And do you really think I can become someone like that?" Felicity asked. She wasn't really here to listen to Jerome's _methods_ but she listened. She always listened, even if he was wrong. At least that's what she thought.

"Everyone can become a psychopath with just the right push," he said. "I read people, Felicity, I know exactly what drives them to insanity. It can be even the slightest detail."

"What about me?" Felicity asked almost nervously, "What can you say about me?"

Jerome grinned at her. There was silence. He didn't say anything at first. He then let out a creepy chuckle that sent shivers down her spine. "Guilt. Fear. Desperation. Anger. You didn't come all the way to Gotham just to see me. You're here to find answers because something happened. I can tell by the bags under your eyes and the discoloration in your face. You haven't slept in days. Guilt and fear is eating you alive and is driving you into madness and you want to make it all go away by coming to Gotham City in hopes that you'll find the answer you're looking for but at the same time, you're afraid to find the answer because you're afraid the answer you'll find is not the one you wanted. You're afraid to hear what you don't want to hear. And that's the kind of thing that's keeping you up at night, eating your brain and driving you insane."

As much as she wanted to disagree with Jerome, he was right. She hadn't sleep in 52 hours after Wintergreen died. She took Hypnocil and tried to get sleep but she would always end up the same, staring up at the ceiling alongside Slade (who couldn't sleep either) and nearly crying her eyes out. She was already consumed by guilt and fear. She wanted to end it but didn't know how without more people getting hurt. She even asked Slade to take Rachel and leave Starling City but he refused to leave her side. She didn't know what to do. Colton was crossing the line and Felicity didn't know how to stop him without crossing her own line.

"Colton is back," Felicity sniffled and Jerome stopped smiling. Jerome remembered Colton. He definitely remembered. Colton used to throw rocks at him every time he was near the house, believing he was trying to _get it on_ with Felicity. He even got hit by a rock in one and it bled. Jerome hated Colton and always feared for Felicity's life because he knew he was a bad man. "And he wants to hurt me, starting with the people I care for. I just thought seeing you will assure me that he can't reach you or Donna. And you're right, I'm trying to find answers because, I don't know what to do anymore."

"Of course you don't," Jerome shook his head, "That's why you're here, isn't it? Because you don't know what to do anymore? You're trapped, Felicity. Trapped between the wall and the sword. Trapped between right and wrong. And you don't know how to get out of that."

"I came here because I know that you know Blake Taylor is here in Gotham City," she said, "I just want to know where."

"Oh yeah, that bastard is still kicking and breathing," Jerome said, "Unfortunately, I don't know where he is. As you can see, I don't go out much. I only saw him two years ago, twice. Blake Taylor is a hard man to find. He keeps a low profile. Last time I saw him, he recognized me and bolted. A fucking coward. But I can guarantee, he's still here in Gotham. Judging by the way he looked, he doesn't have anywhere else to go. A drunk man with a failed marriage, overdue bills, days of non-sleep and nights spent on bars and nightclubs. Something tells me he's afraid of sleep. I'm guessing Hypnophobia."

 _He's afraid of dying if he sleeps_. Felicity bit her lower lip. _He knows about Colton. He knows he'll die if he falls asleep_.

"If you want to find Blake, you're going to have to hack into Gotham City Police Department," Jerome said, "Look through criminal records. He'll be easier to find there."

"And how do you know he'd be in GCPD's criminal records?" she asked.

Jerome arched an eyebrow at her. "You're kidding me, right? Almost everyone in this city gets arrested. Instead of Gotham City, this should be renamed Crime City. And you can see everyone in the eyes that they did something bad. They simply wear a mask to hide their true face."

"So if I hack through GCPD, I'll find Blake," she said.

"The question is, what will you do if you find him?" Jerome asked, now smiling again. Felicity didn't answer though. "You don't know, do you? You came all the way here to find Blake Taylor and you don't have the slightest idea of what you're going to do afterwards. Like I said, you're trapped in morality, the decision between right and wrong. It's a mask, Felicity. Everyone is wearing one. Including you. You try to convince yourself that you know what should be done but you don't. You think too much, Felicity. Why do you I kill without hesitating? Why do you think I am able to tear people from their limbs and mess with their minds without flinching or thinking about the consequences of my actions?"

"Because you don't think?"

"Exactly. I don't think. I don't feel. I don't care. I just _do_ it."

"You say it as if it were so simple, Jerome. You've done it so many times, of course. Me? I chopped off a man's head and stabbed a thief in the neck, and my hands are still shaking just thinking about it."

"Oh my dear friend, you're too good of a person," Jerome said as he took Felicity's hand in his and brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. "You're too soft. Too feeble-minded. You stomach can't handle it when you see blood. That's why I have an assignment for you that will make it better. It will help you put all fears aside and it will help get rid of your bastard father easier."

Felicity had a bad feeling about this, knowing that Jerome's ideas were now twisted and spiteful. It made her wonder how she still remained in contact with him. "Why do I have a feeling I might regret listening to you?"

"When the first man dies in front, don't look away. Don't cry. Don't scream. Bite your tongue if you have to but you won't scream. Keep looking at the person as the life and blood leaves its body. Then I want you to smile."

"I don't think I can do that," Felicity shook her head at the absurd advice.

"Felicity, sometimes you have to do something bad to stop yourself from doing something even worse. That's a quote from the movie _Stoker_ , by the way," Jerome said. "In this case, in order for you to stop a killer, you have to be one...Unless you don't want to stop Colton, that is."

Felicity put a lot of thought to it. _Stopping a killer by being a killer_?

* * *

 _"Is there anyone that Colton hasn't killed yet?" Slade asked as he and Felicity went to the Clock Tower where Oliver and Diggle were waiting. Felicity did not look at all happy. She was faster than usual, both physically and verbally._

 _"At least four," Felicity said as she sat down at her desk and began to type away through her computer, her hands shaking nervously. "My uncle has been dead for years."_

 _Oliver and Diggle looked at her in concern. They could see her hands shaking. She was becoming too anxious with the Colton situation. It was driving her crazy._

 _"She took a can of energy drink on the way here," Slade told Diggle._

 _"Take a rest, Felicity," Diggle suggested. "Let me handle this."_

 _"Please, John. These are my father's friends we're talking about," she said as she continued to type away, pages upon pages popping up on the monitor screen. "I need to find them."_

 _"Did Quentin say anything that can help us find Colton?" Oliver asked._

 _"Nope but he gave us enough info to know how many of his friends are still alive for now," Felicity informed them, "Now all we have to do is find them."_

 _"Why are we looking for his friends instead of looking for Colton himself?" Diggle asked with his arms crossed._

 _"Because Colton is killing them one by one," Felicity explained, "The question is, why? Why would my father be target people he considered like his brothers? The answer would be revealed by finding one of his friends. That is if they're still in America...I think I found one of them. Blake Taylor. A friend of Colton's. He's residing in Gotham City. The others are either in Canada or Europe. Shit. Blake Taylor is the closest thing we got."_

 _"What are you going to do about it?" Oliver asked._

 _"I'm going to Gotham City," Felicity got up from her chair and headed for the exit, only to be blocked by Diggle. "What?"_

 _"You're crazy if you think you're going to Gotham City, especially alone," Diggle said with his arms crossed._

 _"I have to find Blake Taylor, Dig," she practically shouted but quickly lowered her voice. Damn drinks. "I have to find him. Whatever Colton is targeting them for, I need to find out so don't get in my way." Still, Diggle didn't move aside. "I'm about to let out the mother of all screams if you don't let me walk pass."_

 _"Are you listening to yourself right now, girl?" Diggle asked rhetorically, "Again, Felicity, you can't go to Gotham City by yourself. If you do, you can get hurt."_

 _"He's right, Felicity," Slade seconded it and put his hand on her shoulder. "Gotham City is not exactly a walk in the park. I've been there before. It's a dangerous place."_

 _"Then come with me," she suggested, "To Gotham City. You've been there. You know the place better than I do -."_

 _Of course, Oliver objected at the idea. "I don't think it's a good idea. Gotham City is full of psychopaths."_

 _"Yes, and you're working with one," Slade said, referring to himself. "But even if her decision is reckless, Felicity is right. If Blake Taylor knows anything about Colton, it's best we go to Gotham City and find out what. And it has to be an immediate action for who knows what will happen if we wait long."_

 _"Someone has to look after Rachel while Slade and I are gone," she said._

 _Oliver was then the one who volunteered to look after Rachel while they were gone. He wasn't really comfortable with the idea of babysitting but Lyla and Diggle already did their part of looking after Rachel. He was going to do his part._

 _After making a few arguments, they finally made the decision. Felicity and Slade were going to Gotham City to have a chat with Blake Taylor. They did a bit more research on Blake Taylor, finding out what they could, before packing everything up. Oliver wasn't too happy about it since he saw Felicity as a sister and didn't anything happen to her but if Slade guaranteed he would be by her side the entire time, it was enough for him to know she'd be safe._

 _She and Slade took the train the next morning._

* * *

"Jerome is right about one thing, Slade," Felicity said as her fingers drummed over the keyboards of her laptop. She and Slade rented out a motel room for the night and they were on the bed, looking through GCPD's criminal files she managed to hack in just a few minutes. "Look all these people here. It's like the entire city has committed a crime. Every single one of them. I mean, look. Even kids. Freaking kids, probably 10 or less, committed first degree and look at these mugshots. Anyone can believe they're long time criminals just by looking at the photos. What has this city become these days? No wonder Batman has a hard time here. This is like Crime City."

"What else can you expect?" Slade said rhetorically as he placed his arm around her waist and slipped his hand into her sweater, his fingers playing with her breasts. "You'll be surprised what a city like this can do to a person. It plays with the mind and damages it. The very reason why I didn't stay long here. Gotham City is like New York City at night, full of death, theft and all kinds of horrors."

She sighed. "I can tell." She leaned her head and nuzzled her face into Slade's neck. "This city in general took crazy pills. I hope we don't stay here for long. Oh look here it is." She returned her attention to the computer screen. "Blake Taylor...Ew. Son of a bitch. Look at all these arrests, charges of child molestation, harassment, violence and stealing his company's money after being fired. What is wrong with these people?"

Slade shook his head. "I have no idea. Does it say where we can find him?"

"No, but it does say the places he goes," Felicity informed him, "Iceberg Lounge is one of them. A nightclub of high-class society."

" _Used to go_?" Slade frowned at her.

"Apparently, he was banned from it recently for violent attacks and hasn't been in the club since," she said. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration.

"That's a shame," Slade sighed, "Is there a way to get him out of hiding?"

"With the right connections, I think I can get Blake Taylor back into Iceberg Lounge and out of hiding," Felicity smirked as she took out her cellphone.

"Would you now?" Slade smirked in return. "You seem to have a lot of connections, Miss Smoak. A friend of yours?"

"Yeah, and as a matter of fact, he owns the place," she smirked again as an idea came to her, "Do you want to see me to a strip tease?"

* * *

The Iceberg Lounge was run by none other than Oswald Cobblepot, it's a nightclub for the high-class society and the place where Cobblepot kept his crimes under wraps from the Batman. The nightclub was ice-themed with blue and red lighting. Underground, he kept crates of hidden illegal weapons and stashes of valuable in Gotham knew that Cobblepot was a criminal and almost everyone knew what he hid under the Iceberg Lounge. But GCPD gave up on arresting him since he was a very influential man and he had a lot of contacts to get him out of trouble. And of course, Cobblepot was a bit of a psycho. Blake Taylor always thought he was a freak though. Of course, everyone thought Oswald Cobblepot was a freak because he looked like a penguin because of his beak-like nose and wobbly motions. But call him a freak and he would kill by stabbing you with that Bulgarian umbrella of his. He had a very short temper. Yet Blake didn't really care as long as he got nice booze and beautiful ladies in the club.

Tonight, he was in luck. Mr. Cobblepot decided to throw a masquerade ball tonight. There were a lot of women in beautiful dresses and jewelry to go around with it. Most of the people here were rich. So if he could snag a pearl necklace and a golden watch, he'd be the happiest man on earth. And if he had to bring a woman to his bed, he would darn right do so. There were beautiful women here tonight, mostly with dates and probably drunk as hell. Surprisingly, Mr. Cobblepot also hired exotic dancers, something the _freak_ hadn't done for a while. One of them is definitely to Blake's liking.

A girl with blonde curls draping over her bare shoulders as she was wearing a black sleeveless dress with gloves that reached to her elbows, her lips painted in dark red, the split on the side of the dress showing off her leg that's covered by a fishnet legging and a black-feathered mask. She wasn't wearing any revealing clothing that would identify her as an exotic dancer but the way she danced seductively around the pole, she sure acted like one. A lot men's eyes were on her, including Blake's. He couldn't find any jewelry on her worth stealing except for a pearl necklace around her neck which looked simple and yet elegant around her fine pale neck.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Oswald Cobblepot approached Blake Taylor. More like limped towards Blake. Everyone called him the Penguin because that's what he looked like to everyone and he picked up the name despite his hate for it at first. Even Blake thought he was an ugly sight to see, a skinny young man with pale skin and pale blue eyes, the pointed beak-like nose, black hair messily plastered onto his head with spiky ends sticking up from the top of his head. And he was wearing and black-and-white suit that made him look more like a penguin. "It makes you want to break that _look but don't touch_ rule, doesn't it? I found her in the streets. She didn't look like much at first but she has real potential."

"It makes me wonder how you managed to get a girl like her to work for _you_ in this joint," Blake laughed mockingly.

Mr. Cobblepot's facial features darkened. "I suggest you mind your own tongue, Mr. Taylor, if you want to see the outside of this club again." Mr. Cobblepot limped away from the ballroom angrily.

It wasn't the first time Blake was threatened with death (and probably wouldn't be his last) and he technically didn't give a shit whether Oswald Cobblepot's threats were empty or genuine yet he couldn't care less. He watched the girl dance around the pole some more, hooking her legs around it and spinning before she touched down to the floor and walked over to Blake.

"Come with me," she whispered, slipping her hand into his.

Blake hesitated at first since he only came to the masquerade ball to snag jewels to pay off his bills, but at the end, he obliged and followed the girl. They walked past the white-clothed dinner tables full of guests and left the ball room to the lobby. Iceberg Lounge was like a hotel. It was big enough to be a hotel. Blake and the girl went up the stairs to the second floor where the bedrooms would be. The girl had already snagged one of the keys to the bedroom as if she had already planned it. She opened the door to one of the rooms and she and Blake entered.

The room was dark, barely lit by the moonlight streaming through the window. It seemed a bit creepy.

"Do you want to hear a secret?" the girl whispered behind him.

Blake turned around and she screamed, a powerful screech sending him back and hitting his head against the wall, leaving him fully unconscious.

The girl ripped off the feathered eye-mask from her face, revealing the face of Felicity Smoak. "Are you happy now, Oswald?" she sighed, "I did your stupid dance."

"Wow," Oswald Cobblepot said in astonishment as he emerged from the shadows along with Slade Wilson in his Deathstroke suit. "When you said you had powers, I thought you were kidding."

"Told ya," she smirked.

"So, what should be done about him?" Oswald asked her, "You know I don't want this filth here in my club."

"Don't worry, he's not staying for long," Slade said as he grabbed a chair from a desk.

Oswald sighed. "I'll get the rope, and plastic...and a mop." Oswald said and placed a hand on Felicity's shoulder. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, Ozzie," she said. With that, Oswald left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Slade asked her with concern, "You can wait outside if you want."

Felicity shook her head. "I'm fine."

* * *

"So, you like to draw birds a lot," Oliver said while watching Rachel draw a large black bird on the sheet of paper he gave her along with a ballpoint pen since he didn't have any crayons. Rachel remained silent and continued drawing. "Are you okay?"

Oliver could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't. "Hey," he said, putting an assuring hand on her shoulder, "It's not your fault, okay?"

Rachel nodded her head but didn't look at him nor did she say anything. She felt like it was her fault that Wintergreen, just like she felt it was her fault her mother died. She wished she could have saved Wintergreen but he was dead and there was nothing she could do about it but hope for Felicity and Slade to find the man who did this to him.

"Do you want some macaroni?" Oliver asked but Rachel didn't answer.

There was a knock on the door. Oliver and Rachel turned around at the sudden knock. Rachel's eyes widened and looked at Oliver anxiously.

"Go hide in the room," he instructed. She shook her head. She didn't want to go. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." Oliver took out his bow and arrow and gestured Rachel to leave the living room which she did. She took off running.

Oliver readied his bow and arrow as he quietly walked closer to the door and looked through the peephole. There was a man outside his apartment, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He also had a yellow folder in his hand. The man continued to knock on the door and waited patiently for someone to answer.

"Who is it!?" Oliver shouted.

"Child Protection Services," the man said. "My name is John Lone. I'm here to talk with Felicity Megan about her ward Rachel Angela Roth."

"Well, she's not here at the moment and I'm not letting anyone in without identification," Oliver said, his arrow already ready on the bowstring, "What's this all about?"

"Child negligence, sir," the man said while taking out the yellow folder and placing at the doorstep of the apartment. "We'll be seeing Miss Smoak at court in on Friday. You've been notified. Good day." The man then turned and left.

Oliver waited for the man to be gone before carefully opening the door and quickly grabbed the folder. He shut the door and quickly put the lock on it. He opened up the folder and took out a few letters that looked like they were really from Child Protection Services. He read the letters and cursed lowly. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. Felicity is not going to like this."

* * *

"Blake Taylor, do you remember me?" Felicity asked after Blake was brought back out of unconsciousness with a bucket of cold water Slade dumped on his head, water that filled like fish. Blake was bound to a chair and there was a plastic sheet under the chair. Blake looked at the girl with scrutinized eyes before they widened at recognizing her.

"Felicity Smoak?"

"Yes," she nodded, "I guess you do remember me. This is my boyfriend." She pointed at Slade who was standing behind Blake with his arms crossed over his chest. "They call him Deathstroke. And you already know my friend Oswald Cobblepot. I always called him Ozzie for short."

"You see, Mr. Taylor, she and I met in M.I.T.," Oswald explained, "Of course, I dropped out but we still talk every now and then."

"The plan was to get you out of hiding and to this club," Felicity explained, "You come here at the Iceberg Lounge almost every night to get booze and screw many women as you can yet you got arrested and banned from the Iceberg Lounge after a hostile approach on one of the female guests plus you punched a guy in the face. It took a while to convince Oswald to make an invitation for you to participate in the masquerade ball."

"So the whole thing was a scam to get me out here," Blake said.

"Well, it's not really hiding if Oswald already knew where to send the invitation," Felicity pointed out.

"What the hell do you guys want from me? Especially _you_ ," Blake said while glaring at Felicity.

"My father," she said immediately, "He's back and he's in Starling City, hunting me down and killing anyone that gets in his way. 52 hours ago, he sent a bunch of hitmen to our house and killed my boyfriend's friend. Wintergreen was like a brother to him. Now he's buried six feet underground."

"Why you looking for me then? If Colton did this, you should be looking for him, not me," Blake struggled through the ropes but they wouldn't budge. "I've got nothing to do with that."

"That's where you're wrong, Blake," Felicity said before looking at Oswald. "Can you please leave us the room, Ozzie?"

Oswald nodded in agreement. He put on music from the record player to die out any sounds as he walked out of the bedroom and shut the door. He would be on guard just in case anyone would come upstairs.

Felicity and Slade continued interrogating Blake Taylor, the once friend of Colton Smoak.

"You know you have a lot to do with Colton," Slade instigated as he took out papers and tossed at Blake's feet. It was a list of phone calls he made, one of them to Colton Smoak and the calls happened a few weeks before Colton even arrived at Central City where he was exposed to the shockwave of the particle accelerator, "You told Colton where Felicity lived. How did you find out where Felicity lived? We don't know and frankly, we don't really care. But you were the one who gave the information to him -."

"Okay, okay," Blake admitted, "Yes, I gave Colton the information where Felicity lives. But I didn't call him. He called me, okay? He wanted me to search for you and he was willing to pay me 10, 000 dollars if I got your address and everything he needed to know to find her."

"Why am I not surprised that a greedy bastard like you would endanger innocent people for money?" Slade asked rhetorically. Of course, he couldn't say he never done it before.

"Look, asshole, I'm broke. I'm out of the job and I needed the money for the rent," Blake explained, "The old bitch at the building already threatened to throw me out of the apartment if I didn't pay the rent by the end of the week. I thought she was kidding at first but then I got a nice notification taped to my door meant that she was being serious. I used the notification to wipe shit off my ass and I left it at her doorstep as a nice tip. Anyways, it wasn't personal."

"Well, it is personal for us," Felicity said as she threw the criminal files at his feet, "You're a nasty piece of crap, you know that, Blake? Child molestation. Harassment. Stalking. Stealing money from your company after being fired for bad behavior. That pretty sums up what useless prick you are."

"Oh shut up, you're worse than your mother," Blake said.

Felicity's heart stopped when Blake mentioned her mother Evelyn Smoak. That's when she remembered the day of her father's birthday, when the rest of Colton's friends were watching football, when her uncle took her outside to play in the sandbox and then heard her mother scream inside the house. _What happened in there?_

"Your bitch mother always used to scold us every time Colton brought us at his house to watch the games and I bet she used to piss in the bottles to make our beers tastes bad because I gotta tell ya, the beers tasted like it," Blake continued insulting Evelyn on how a bitch and whore she was. Felicity remained listening but didn't say a word to him.

After Blake finished ranting on how bitchy Evelyn Smoak was, Slade ended it by punching him the face. Blake ended up spitting blood from the blow and it dripping onto the plastic sheet. Felicity thought of how Oswald came up with the idea of the plastic sheet or else, she and Slade would cleaning the whole room with bleach.

"If you're such friends with my father, why is he trying to kill you?" Felicity then asked. Blake looked at her as if she was crazy or something.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Thomas Harris is dead," she informed him and Blake's eyes widened. "You remember Tom, do you? Tall skinny man with bug eyes and crooked teeth. He was found dead along with his wife and daughters. The police couldn't find any signs of struggle so they assumed he and his family died in their sleep. Samuel Brawn was found hanging in a janitor's closet but was asleep the whole time which debunks the theory of suicide to be the cause of his death. And Vincent O'Connor, I don't remember how but I'm sure he's dead too. What a coincidence that the three men died happen to be the closest friends to Colton. At least 5-6 of them are dead. And I think you know something about that."

"You're crazy," Blake stated but he looked nervous, they could tell. His face was pale as a ghost and he looked a bit sweaty.

"Yes, I am crazy," Felicity hissed at him, "In fact, these past few weeks, I've been going out of my mind because of you and because of Colton. I can't sleep, thinking that he can kill me in any second if I dare to close my eyes. And I bet that it's been happening to you too. Sleepless nights. Bags under your eyes. Always looking around you to make sure no one is following you. I know the feeling. It's happening to me too. I know that Colton is attacking you. Now that he doesn't find any use to you, he decided to get rid of you. The question is, why?"

Blake didn't say anything. He stopped talking and this was making her impatient. She leaned forward.

"You're his friend, Blake. His _best_ friend, apparently," she said, "Why would he want to kill you after so many years you two spent together? Unless it's something Colton is trying to cover. Maybe you know something that Colton doesn't want anyone else to find out, including me, and is killing you all one by one."

"What my love wants to know is what is it that Colton is trying to hide from her," Slade continued talking while taking out his sword from the sheath on his back.

"Listen, you don't understand -."

Felicity interrupted him and was now talking more furiously, much to Slade's surprise. "I really don't have time for this. 20 years ago on my dad's birthday party. I was outside with my uncle at the sandbox when I heard my mother scream. And then after you assholes left, I found her crying and all bruised. You were there. You know what happened. What is that you know that Colton doesn't want me to know? What happened in that house? What did you do to my _mother_?"

It was a long silence. When Blake didn't respond, Slade brought up his sword, already threatening to swing it down. That's when Blake finally cracked. "All right! All right!"

"Talk," Slade said.

"Okay. Felicity, Colton was obsessed with you. He wanted you very badly and he still does. So when Michael took you outside, he got upset and took it out on Evelyn."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"We were drunk and we didn't think much. We simply did what Colton was doing and thought it be fun -."

"Get to the point, Mr. Taylor, we don't have all night," Slade stated impatiently.

"No, I think I figured it out," Felicity said darkly, and she leaned even further. "You and my dad, you had fun with my mom on his birthday. That's why she was bruised. Blake...Did you rape my mother?" she asked. When he didn't answer, she became more demanding and shouted in his face. "Did you rape my mother!?"

"...Yes."

With that she got her answer. She didn't need an explanation. A _yes_ was enough. She got the answer, the answer she never wanted to hear just like Jerome told her at Arkham Asylum. The one she never wanted to hear but knew it was coming.

She stood back from Blake, her hand now reaching up to her head and grabbing the roots of her hair. _This can't be happening_. She began to breathe heavily as she went to lean against the wall, her body shaking uncontrollably and tears falling down her cheeks.

"Felicity," Slade whispered worriedly as he tried to hold her steady but immediately smacked his hand away hard as she did so at the cemetery.

She took deep breaths until she finally managed to calm down. "I'm fine," she said shakily. "I'm fine."

"No you're not -."

"No, of course I'm not fine," she half-laughed, "My mom was gang raped by my dad and his bastard friends. How can I be fine with that?" She then looked at Slade. "I want Colton dead, Slade. I want him to pay for what he did."

"And he will, I assure you. But right now, what should we do with this man here?" Slade asked. Felicity looked at Blake Taylor who was still struggling to get out of the ropes. _What should be done about him?_

"Do what you do best," she said. _Do what you do best_. Felicity knew what Slade did best.

With that, Slade approached Blake Taylor, twirling the sword in his fingers and stepped behind the man.

"No, wait! Please! Felicity, I'm sorry!" Blake begged.

"Look away, Felicity," Slade said.

But she shook her head in refusal. "No...I want to see."

Slade looked at her, wondering if she was serious. Felicity didn't answer him and her expression was blank. She was dead serious. She wasn't going to look away.

Slade sighed and proceeded with his task. Blake continued to scream and beg for mercy, begging Felicity to make Slade stop but she made no move to stop him nor did she speak. She simply stood there, watching blankly. _You have failed this city._ She jumped when Slade drove his sword through the back of Blake's head and the blade came out of the mouth coated in blood but she didn't look away. Her stomach twisted and her heart pounded in surprise at this. She never saw anyone get killed like that before. It frightened her at first at the thought of killing someone. But now watching the bastard Blake being killed in her love's hands, she didn't seem scared anymore. She felt relief and glad, like ten pounds of weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

What she did next was now concerning for Slade. It was small and quick but completely noticeable. She smiled.

* * *

 **End of the chapter.**

 **Comment, please. What do you think of this chapter? Do you think Felicity might be going crazy with her situation?**

 **The end of the story is just a few chapters away. And I have some bad news guys, someone else is going to die at the end of the story and it's going to bring an impact to the Arrowverse. Can you guess who it might be this time?**


	41. Chapter 41: Trial (Part 1)

**Here's the next chapter to _Black Smoak_. Enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Arrow_ or the characters.**

 **Remember, this is complete fiction from the author's imagination. A 'What if?'**

* * *

Roman Sionis was seated with his legs crossed over the table and drinking a glass of tequila. It proved to be difficult since he was wearing a black metal skull mask. He took it off and placed it down on the table. He was a bit grumpy about his men getting killed because of Colton Smoak. That bastard managed to kill the old man but failed to kill the child. And got most of his men killed by Slade's guards and he was recently informed that the kid blew up one of his men's head off. How was that even possible?

"Black Mask," he heard someone approaching and immediately put on the skull mask.

He turned to see that it was Slade Wilson (aka. Deathstroke). The man that robbed from his and killed plenty of his men. Behind him, was Colton Smoak's daughter Felicity Smoak (now going by the name Black Canary, as far as he heard) or as Sionis would say "Slade's bitch".

"Well, if it isn't Deathstroke and his bitch," Sionis chuckled in a raspy voice. Felicity simply stared at him blankly but made no move to approach him. She remained standing behind Slade. "I can see why Colton likes you. Looking at your photos, I didn't see the appeal but seeing you in leather, I finally see it. You know what, Slade? You actually have good taste when it comes to women."

"We know that you made negotiations with her father, Black Mask," Slade said as he approached the table where Sionis was sitting and put down his sword on the table, a sign that he wasn't going to attack. "You gave him your men and they attacked my home. They killed a dear friend of mine."

"And how would you know that it was me?" Sionis chuckled once more. He watched Felicity leaned back against the wall with her arms crossed. "Is she your bodyguard now?"

Slade almost laughed. "It was too obvious. They had tattoos of a black skull on the back of their hands, a clear sign of who they work for. Also, she's more like insurance."

"She doesn't look that tough," Sionis said in a challenging way. Felicity pursed her lips together.

"Trust me, Mr. Sionis, you don't want to mess with her," Slade shook his head, "She's not in the good mood tonight."

"Well, I'm not in the most festive fucking mood either," Sionis growled before looking at Felicity, "Your father made a fucking mess. He got my men killed off just to prove some fucking point to you. And on top of all that, he didn't even get to kill the fucking brat of yours."

"Pottymouth," she gritted bluntly and stuck her tongue at him.

Sionis laughed at her attitude. "She's a feist, isn't she? Seeing her pictures, I expected her to be more awkward and more bumbling."

"Technically, I still babble. Awkward? Not so much...anymore," Felicity said.

"Mr. Sionis, why were you negotiating with a psychopath like Colton Smoak? I thought you were done with that after your issues with the Joker," Slade pointed out. Felicity frowned at this.

Slade then explained how Roman Sionis made negotiations with Jerome Valeska/the Joker to take down a vigilante who called himself the Red Hood who's been hijacking helicopters and trucks full of his shipment and cargos containing drugs, guns and a robot. Then Felicity remembered Cisco having the robot he named Sampson back in Central City. She wondered where Cisco got the robot in the first place.

"So far he hasn't double-crossed me like _you_ did, Mr. Wilson," Sionis growled, his temper being tested. He really hated Slade. He looked like he's about to pull a gun on him any second. Slade even gave Felicity a knife just in case. Felicity didn't know how to use a gun. She had a very bad aim; she couldn't even shoot her father. So Slade gave her a knife, a small one and almost invisible to Sionis' eyes. "That wasn't very nice of you."

"You refused to pay me what you promised, Mr. Sionis so I think what I did was fair," Slade said, "I did my part. You should have kept yours. If you really think that Colton is going to keep his word with whatever crap he promised you, you're in for a big surprised. He's a liar, Sionis. You don't want to make the same mistake twice involving yourself with that bastard."

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Wilson. I won't make the same mistake twice," Sionis snapped his fingers and ten guards appeared with guns in their hands, one of them pointing at Felicity while the others pointed at Slade.

"Ah crap," she muttered as she raised her hands up to show that she unarmed. However, she still had the knife Slade gave her hidden inside the sleeve of her suit.

* * *

Cisco was in the kitchen cooking dinner. He didn't have much to cook though. He needed to do grocery tomorrow. All he had was microwave noodles. He would have to make due with a cup of noodles until then. Chicken noodles and then added sausages to the mix.

He also had to change his bandages. Caitlin already told him to change his bandages ages ago and he hadn't done so. Even if it was just bruises, it could get infected if not attended properly. Cisco unwrapped the bandages from his arm, only to be surprised that there were no bruises in his arm. _What the hell? How?_

His cellphone rang. Caitlin's name was on the blue screen of his phone.

He answered it. "Talk to me, Cait."

" _We have a problem, Cisco_ ," she said and she sounded anxious. " _And by we, I mean you_."

"What's up?" Cisco asked while slicing the sausages into little pieces.

 _"It's your lab_ ," Caitlin informed, " _Someone infiltrated S.T.A.R. Labs and they broke into your workspace_."

His eyes widened and immediately stood up from his seat in disbelief. "What? Did you see anyone?"

" _No_ ," she said, " _I got here and saw the entire place nearly trashed. I checked security cameras but the lens were covered in spray paint. Whoever it was, he/she was wearing a ski mask. All the drawers are open. Papers are scattered. Your lab is the one that suffered more damage. It looks like they were looking for something. Whatever they were looking for, they knew where to find it_."

"Do you know what they stole?" he asked. He put the sausages in a plastic box and put the box in the refrigerator. _Soup is going to have to wait then_.

" _I thought you would know_."

"Well, I'll be right there, okay? Nobody trashes my lab and gets away with it." Cisco hissed irritable as he grabbed his jacket and ran out of his apartment.

* * *

"Okay, so we have ten men with guns," Felicity muttered, "Five are aiming at you. Five are aiming at me. If you move, they shoot me. If I move, they shoot you. And Black Mask is just sitting there like a fucking muppet."

Slade chuckled in amusement. "So, I'm guessing this was your plan all along. You knew we'd come here to confront you. So you had your men ready."

"For someone who's from Australian Secret Intelligence Service, you're not as smart as I thought," Sionis chuckled cynically.

"Oh trust me, Slade is not as stupid as you think," Felicity said before turning her eyes to Slade. "Plan B?"

"As you wish," Slade agreed with a grin.

The entire bar went dark the second Slade said that. A small click was heard and Black Mask immediately shouted at the guards to shoot which they do even they didn't know which directions they were shooting since it was completely dark. A bright light began flicker on and off rapidly, making everything look like a motion picture event. The guards tried shooting at Felicity and Slade but the flickering light was making them go out of focus and they were shooting at random.

Slade attacked one of the guards, breaking the guard's arm with his elbow and stole his gun before shooting him in the face. Felicity took out her small knife hidden in her sleeve and proceeded to stab one of the guards that was closest to her. She stabbed him in the neck repeatedly in quick easy strikes. She took the gun from him and continued shooting at the other guards. Another guard charged at her from behind but she elbowed him in the neck, cutting the air from his windpipe, and drove her knife through his skull between the eyes, killing him. Slade turned one of the other guards around by twisted his arm before breaking the man's neck with his free hand.

Felicity then saw two of the surviving guards lead Roman Sionis out of the bar running. "He's getting away!" She was about to chase after him when she felt Slade's strong arm stop her.

"Don't be stupid," he growled at her.

Felicity quickly pushed him aside as another guard tried to attack him from behind. Yelling, she jumped on top of the guard, hooking her thighs around his neck and stealing the gun from him. She leaned back and dragged him in a spin while shooting the other remaining guards, much to Slade's surprise. She wasn't that good at aiming so she only hit two or three. Slade had to take care of the rest. What surprised Slade was that she wasn't really scared of killing anymore. She was actually determined to kill as much as these son of bitches as possible for what Colton did. It was almost scary. Felicity finished it by shooting the guard she was on top of in the face. "I saw Sara do it once."

All the guards were dead and the flickering lights stopped. It turned out to be an XTI Procyon flashlight Felicity had hidden in her gloved hand which she threw later on when she and Slade talked about Plan B. The lights from the bar came back on. It was a bloody mess. Dead body here and there. And yet, Felicity didn't scream in terror. Slade was surprised she didn't freak out when seeing all the dead bodies, blood splattered on the walls and pooling the floors.

"Black Mask got away," she snapped at him.

"And good thing I stopped you from chasing after him," Slade said, confronting her fiercely, "He had two of his best men with him. Do you think they won't shoot you the second they see you coming after them? They would have killed you."

"He gave Colton his men!" she snapped harshly at him, "And sent them to attack our home and they killed Wintergreen! Your friend, the one you considered like a brother to you -."

"And you think I don't want revenge on him for that!?" Slade shouted at her. "I do! But not like this! Not without a plan!We're not going to simply chase after them blindingly! Use your damn head for once!" He said this while poking her in the temple.

"Jerome told me -!"

"I don't care what your mad friend in Arkham Asylum says! I want you safe!" he roared at her furiously. Felicity stared at him blankly.

"...As long as Colton is alive, no one is safe," she said. Her eyes then widened. "Slade."

Slade turned around and saw a time-bomb under one of the tables and it was down to five seconds. "Move!"

He grabbed her by the arm and they both jumped through a nearby window. Afterwards, the building exploded. The two ended up landing on top of a black van, crushing the roof and shattering glass. Slade used his body to shield Felicity from the crash and groaned at the injury now hurting his back. He didn't care though. Roman Sionis may have gotten away but at least Felicity didn't get her during the shooting.

"Slade?" she grunted, "You have a bullet...in your neck. Whyyy?"

He chuckled. "I got shot. Why do you think?"

They returned to the motel. They had to enter through the back to be avoided being seen by the manager of the lobby. In the motel room, they stripped off from their uniforms, remaining in their underwear. Felicity removed the bullet from Slade's neck with the tweezers she used to pluck her eyebrows and put the bullet in an ashtray before patching up the wound with toilet paper and pillow stuffing and taped them down with duct tape. Slade simply stared at her. She sighed at the blood in her hands but eventually got up and went to the bathroom to wash her hands.

Slade followed her to the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Who are you? What have you done to Felicity? What happened to that humorous babbling girl I fell in love with?"

"...I don't know. Maybe she never existed in the first place," she said, her eyes pooling with tears.

* * *

"What the hell happened to my lab?" Cisco shouted while throwing his arms up in the air as he walked into his lab to see it in complete mess. Papers scattered. His chairs knocked over. The drawers opens. Folders thrown on the floor. Boxes ripped open and the desk lamp lying on the floor shattered. "Who the hell did this? Who the hell did this?"

Caitlin entered the lab, careful not to step into any glass or papers. "The cameras lens were covered in black spray paint so we couldn't see anyone who entered in and out of the labs. Whoever it was, knew what to do and what to look for."

Cisco looked through the drawers and archives to see what the intruders took from his lab. _Please don't tell me they took - Where is it? Where is it?_ "Ah shit, they took it."

"Took what?" Catilin asked with a frown.

"Do you remember the collar I made for Felicity, the one that helps control her Canary Cry?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I made a similar collar except that one is made to mimic her abilities just in case she lost her scream. Now it's gone," Cisco snapped and knocked a few of the scattered papers from his desk. "They took it. Damn it. Whoever did this is so going to regret it."

* * *

Felicity and Slade returned to Starling City the next morning after that unfortunate confrontation with the Black Mask. At least they took care of Blake Taylor and discovered the truth behind Colton's choice of killing his friends. Now they found an alibi. Too bad Slade had to kill the man for his crimes. The good news was that Slade had Blake Taylor's confession recorded before executing him with a tape recording he kept hidden in his glove. He also had Black Mask's confession of giving Colton his hitmen to attack Merlyn Mansion in exchange for his services. Slade would send the recordings to Detective Lance. It was proof that Colton was behind everything, pulling the strings and manipulating the situation. Colton was definitely crossing the line this time and everyone was worried how far Colton was willing to go to get Felicity.

They went to Oliver's apartment. They had the spare key to the house. When they entered the apartment, they found Oliver spraying the fire extinguisher all over the kitchen, all of it covered in white foam and smoke coming from the stove.

"What...happened...in here?" Felicity asked in shock.

Oliver shrugged his shoulders. "Apparently, I'm not so much of a cook. I accidentally set the stove on fire."

Slade shook his head in disapproval. "After all these years, mate, you finally start a fire."

"Well, sorry I didn't know how to set a fire back on the island, Slade," Oliver retorted, "It's not like I was a scout."

"I've said this before and I'm saying it again, I've seen Girls Scout have more survival skills than you," Slade growled as he took a wet towel and threw it on top of the burning stove.

Felicity pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration. "Are we seriously talking about this right now?" She really didn't have to hear them both bicker like kids. "Ollie, where's Rachel?"

"She's in her room," Oliver said, "How was Gotham?"

"Don't ask," Both of them said at the same time. The night took a lot of energy from them, mostly from Felicity and all she wanted to do was grab Rachel in a hug in order to feel secured and human. What she did last night in Gotham was something she would never do and it was because she let herself lose her humanity and she'd like to recuperate some of that humanity with a hug from her little girl.

"Felicity, we need to talk," Oliver brought up. "It's important."

"I'm just not in the mood for talking right now, Oliver," she sighed.

"Trust me, it gets worse," Oliver said as he showed her the yellow folder in his hands. It had Child Protection Services labelled on it. Her eyes widened and abruptly snatched the folder from his hands.

Her hands opened up the folder and read the letters out loud. " _Dear Felicity Smoak, under orders of Child Protection Services, we're obligated to retrieve your custody over your ward Rachel Angela Roth for child negligence and endangerment and return her to headquarters of Gotham City immediately, unless you can provide evidence denying any negligence towards your ward. A trial will be held in Gotham City Courthouse on Friday on 9:11 a. m. If you do not present yourself at court at this day, we are to send authorities to take away your ward by force and arrest you for resisting to face trial_...Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" Felicity threw the letters on the floor harshly as she yelled in anger. "Damn it!"

Oliver approached her calmly. "Felicity, calm down."

She pushed him away and snapped. "No! They can't do this. Me neglecting Rachel is total bullshit. They can't do this!"

"When did the letter appear?" Slade asked Oliver. Felicity sat down on the couch and raked her hair back from her face.

"Yesterday," Oliver informed them.

"Today is Thursday, meaning that trial is tomorrow at Gotham City Courthouse," Slade said, "But why Child Protection Services are interested on taking Rachel to Gotham?"

"Because that's where they first found her and they transferred her to the orphanage here in Starling City," Felicity explained while fighting the urge to cry as she wiped away her tears, "I have the papers explaining everything. I never neglected her, not once. I feed her. I bathe her. I give her everything she needs. Hell, I've been risking my life for her and this is house they thank me? No, it won't happen. I'm not letting them take her away. I'm calling my lawyer."

"Mama?" The trio turned around to find Rachel standing in the living room, probably heard Felicity yelling angrily. "Are you okay?" she asked meekly.

Felicity stomped towards her and picked her from the floor, embracing her tightly. "I'm not letting them," she said and glared at Slade and Oliver. "I'm not going to let them take her away from me." She bolted to the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Oliver looked at Slade in bewilderment. He has never seen her like this before, so angry and hysterical. "What happened to her?"

"The ugly truth, mate, that's what happened," Slade sighed. He didn't want Rachel to be taken away either. He grew to care for Rachel. He grew attached to her. He even began to see her as his own daughter. So the fact that Child Protection Services were trying to take her away was heart-aching. But he didn't expect for Felicity to be the first one to crack. "I'll call every lawyer I have in service."

"How many lawyers exactly do you have, Slade?" Oliver asked.

"Nine." He went to the kitchen to clean up the mess Oliver made. The stove was burn and macaroni in the frying pan burned to a crisp. If Oliver tried to burn down the house, he almost succeeded. _Damn kid_.

"Nine? I can't get even one freaking lawyer! And yet you have nine? Unbelievable," Oliver said, "I'll call Laurel and see if she can help us out. I'm probably the last person she wants to talk to right now but this is an emergency. I'll be back." Oliver grabbed his coat and left the apartment.

As for Slade, he went to check on the girls but found the door to the bedroom (the one that used to be Thea's) was locked. He attempted to knock on the door when he herd the two girls crying, Rachel practically screaming and wailing hysterically. " _I don't want to go! I want to stay with you, Mama! I don't want to go!_ " He also heard Felicity sob profusely. " _It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. You're not going anywhere. I won't let them take you._ " But Slade could tell by the tone in her that even _she_ didn't believe a word she said. She was actually convinced that she could lose Rachel forever.

Slade, instead, went to the bathroom where he shut the door and sat on the toilet where he would try to think on how to solve the predicament they were having. First Colton and now this. Everything was becoming out of hand. And what's worse, after what happened in Gotham, he was afraid Felicity could lose her humanity this time and for good. He already imagine the worst case scenario: Felicity actually going to Child Protection Services and gunning down all the workers just to keep working. He knew she would never do such things but there was not telling what would happen in the court decides to deny Felicity's custody she has over Rachel. They couldn't lose this trial. They just couldn't.

There was a buzzing sound in his trousers' pocket. His phone. He picked it up. It was actually a text message. It a anonymous but by the looks of it, he had a pretty clear idea of who it was. Gül: TOMORROW AT MIDNIGHT OR YOU AND THE OTHERS DIE.

Slade immediately deleted the text message. He didn't care anymore. If she wanted to come after Slade, he'll let her as long as she and Grant don't hurt Felicity or Rachel. He had other problems more important to keep his promise to Gül. _Come and get me, bitch_.

* * *

"I heard you met my daughter and her boyfriend," Colton chuckled as he entered Roman Sionis' office, who was clearly not in a good mood after his little run in with Deathstroke and Black Canary. "Told you she was pretty. But also a bit of a bitch. She keeps complaining that I'm a pedophile and yet she's sleeping with a man clearly older than her. I'm guessing it's the way he treats her. I would do the same if she stopped resisting me."

"Shut up and have a seat, Mr. Smoak," Sionis snapped.

Colton nodded and sat down at the chair opposite side of Sionis' desk. He began to listen. Roman Sionis explained how Deathstroke and Black Canary nearly killed him at the bar. Most of his bodyguards were murdered by the pair but he managed to escape. Colton let out a deep laugh. He couldn't believe that his own daughter could kill someone.

"My Felicity?" he laughed. "Bullshit. She can't even punch a bag, let alone kill. She couldn't even shoot me the last time we saw each other. She always had the worst aim. Of course, I have to admit. She did look really sexy in leather. I got to give her credit for that."

"Don't kid yourself, Mr. Smoak," Sionis growled annoying. "As much as a bad shooter your daughter is, she's one hell of a stabber. She slashed and stabbed my men to death while Deathstroke continued shooting them. She's becoming just as cold of a killer as Deathstroke is. And I don't like it."

Colton shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't want to sleep with the thought of Deathstroke breaking into my condo to have his bitch slice my throat while I sleep," Sionis pointed. "And thanks to her determination to hunt you down, she's been able to kill half of my men. Luckily, I have a solution to your screw-up."

"How the fuck did I screw up?" Colton asked as if the accusation was absurd, "It's not my fault Merlyn Mansion was heavily guarded or that the old man had a gun."

"But you got my men killed so technically, you're the cause of my problems," the crime-lord pointed out. "You're lucky I'm still interested in your offer or I'd have your head on my desk at this very moment. So I came up with a solution that would benefit us both. It will help me get my revenge on Deathstroke and you get to have your precious daughter."

Colton smirked in intrigue. "Enlighten me."

* * *

Laurel was packing up for tonight. She had a lot of work to do and wanted to get some rest, and possibly a few drinks. She had been drinking a lot lately, more ever since Sara died and she was now feeling sober after a few more cups from a red wine bottle she kept hidden in the drawers of her desk. She tried to leave the alcohol but she was so pissed with everything that was happening, with Colton and with Sara dead, she thought drinking was her best solution.

She heard a knock on her door and turned around to find Oliver standing by her doorway.

"Ollie, what are you doing here?" she asked while putting a folder and a few items in one of the drawers of her desk before shutting it.

"Look, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now -."

"Clearly." She has a certain coldness in her eyes that made Oliver rethink his decision of asking her help.

"I really need your help right now," Oliver said. Laurel stared at him sternly with her arms crossed. "It's Felicity. Child Protection Services are trying to take away Rachel from her over child negligence."

Laurel shook her head. "That's impossible. You have to have an exact report of child abuse or negligence. Physical abuse. Verbal abuse. Emotional abuse. Malnutrition. Starvation. Or some other cases, the warder uses the money from the department for their own needs instead of the kid's."

"But Felicity hasn't been doing any of that stuff," Oliver said, "In fact, she's been taking really good care of Rachel and she uses the money from the department on Rachel so I don't see any reason why they would take away...unless..." Oliver then smacked his hand on forehead. "Ah shit."

"What?"

"The attack in Merlyn Mansion," Oliver said, "Slade and Felicity called SCPD to report intruders. William Wintegreen, Slade's friend, was found dead and Rachel almost got shot by one of the guys that broke into their home. SCPD filed the reports. Child Protection Services must have found out somehow and now they think Felicity is endangering Rachel. It all makes sense now."

"Was Rachel alone?" Laurel asked.

"They left her with William Wintergreen," Oliver explained, "He's Billy Wintergreen's brother. He got killed in the house. He was shot to death."

"You do realize the court is not going to like hearing that, right? They'll believe Felicity and Slade left her with a complete stranger," Laurel pointed out.

"But if Slade explains what he knows about Wintergreen and that the house was surrounded by guards to the court, will it help?" Oliver asked.

Laurel simply shook her head. "I'm not really sure. There's no guarantee. It probably won't. Plus mentioning the Mirakuru soldiers will make it look like she was being raised in a prison."

"Well, we have to do something. We can't just let Child Protection Services take away Rachel without a fair trail. Please, Laurel, we need you. _I_ need you," he begged. That was a red flag there.

"Oh, now you need me? Really? _Now_ you need me?" Laurel retorted, "What about five years ago? You didn't need me back then."

Oliver looked at her, trying to find signs if she was joking or not. "Are we seriously going to talk about this right now? Felicity is going to have her kid taken away and now you want to -."

"Yes!" she snapped, "I _do_ want to talk about this because I'm so fucking tired of seeing your face and pretend like nothing happen. Do you have any idea how much that pisses me off? You see me and you pretend that what happened five years ago never happened and you expect me to do the same thing! Well, guess what, I'm not you, Ollie."

"If you don't like pretending anymore then don't!" Oliver snapped in return.

"Do you know how much it hurt when I found out that _you_ were having an affair with my sister and finding out from your mother when you got lost in the sea? It freaking hurt, Ollie! Not only did you cheat on me but with my own sister and to top it all you almost let her die in the Gambit! If you didn't love me anymore back then, Ollie, you could have just said right in my face. You didn't have to do things behind my back! A simple 'I don't love you anymore' would have been fine."

"Laurel, I _did_ love you -."

"Then what the fuck were you screwing my sister for -!?"

"I was a freaking kid, Laurel. A stupid kid -."

"Oh, isn't that a precious excuse! You're always the victim, aren't you? I was a kid, Ollie, you didn't see me fucking other guys -!"

"And how many times did I have to say I was sorry!?" Oliver yelled. Luckily, the rest of the building was empty or he'd be escorted by security. "Yes, I cheated on you! Yes, it is my fault that I nearly killed Sara while in the Gambit! And it's _my_ fault Slade ended the way that he is! But it wasn't my fault that Sara died...again! So if you're blaming me for what happened to Sara, because I know that this is nothing to do with me cheating on you -!"

"I never said it was your fault Sara died!" Laurel screamed. "I never thought for a second that you killed her. You think I don't know you loved her more than me? I knew, Ollie. I saw it in your face. You loved her more than me," she snapped, "I wouldn't be as mad as I am now if you had just told me. The truth would have been better -."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you how you'd reacted -!"

"Of course I'd be still pissed off, Ollie! But I was more pissed that you never told me!" She stopped screaming. "If you...if you had just talk to me, maybe we wouldn't be having this argument in the first place. Maybe...maybe you wouldn't have been in the Gambit and you wouldn't have ended up in the island in the first place. And maybe we wouldn't have met Colton Smoak."

"Meaning, we wouldn't have met Felicity and if we hadn't, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place," Oliver said. Laurel nodded and brushed her hair back in frustration. "After everything, now you're blaming Felicity for what happened to Sara?"

"I never said that," Laurel shook her head. "I never said it was her fault."

"But you're making it sound like it -."

"What else do you want me to say, Ollie!? Colton is her father and he's been after her! A lot of bad things are happening because he's after her. Sara died protecting Felicity because she got in Colton's way. But you don't see me blaming Felicity!"

"Then what the hell is your problem -."

"That Sara is dead and no one is doing anything about it," Laurel hissed.

That was a bit of an unfair judgement. Felicity and Slade were doing everything they could to catch Colton. They even went to Gotham City to hunt down Blake Taylor who was a friend of Colton. Some friend Colton was. Colton was eliminating them one by one to hide his dirty little secret from Felicity. Everyone was doing their part as much as possible. Of course, Laurel didn't believe it was enough.

"I want Colton dead, Oliver, just as much as Felicity does," she hissed, "And if neither of you don't have the balls to kill him, then _I_ will."

"You don't know where he's at. Neither of us do. He's good at hiding," Oliver tried to explain to her. No one knew where Colton was hiding. Not even Quentin knew. "But we'll find him, Laurel and when we do, we'll make him pay for what he did to Sara and to everyone else."

"Does it involve sending him to jail like every other criminal?" Laurel asked. Of course, that was a rhetorical question which Oliver didn't answer to. "Have you not been listening? Do you even remember what Colton is? There's no stopping him. Killing him is the only way. But you keep treating him like he's another of your every day criminals. Well, he's not like another of your criminals. He's dangerous, more dangerous than Slade Wilson."

"I made a promise to Tommy. I stopped killing criminals because of him. I'm trying to find another way to catch the bad guys without having to kill them -."

"I'm sorry, Ollie, but in this case, I don't think that promise you made is valid," she said, "I loved Tommy and I still do...but for my sister, I rather break that promise. I thought you loved Sara. You even said you were going to ask her to marry you."

"And I _did_ love Sara," Oliver admitted. He wouldn't have been wanting to propose to her if he didn't love her.

Laurel slowly shook her head. "Not enough, I'm guessing. You know what, Ollie, out of all the people...Felicity is the only one risking everything to find Colton. I'm guessing she's the only one actually cared about Sara."

"That's not fair, Laurel," Oliver said in defense.

"Nothing is fair anymore," she said. Oliver didn't say anything this time. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, she took her briefcase and left her office.

"Laurel -."

"I'll help Felicity with what I can, Ollie," she snapped at him again, "but right now, I just don't want to see you anymore. I'm done with you."

She left the office and went straight to the elevator. Oliver followed her but as soon as he got to her the doors slid shut. Once he was finally gone, Laurel slid down to the floor and sobbed quietly.

* * *

Slade put Rachel to bed while Felicity took a shower. He thought it would help her calm down after what just happened. The little girl wouldn't fall asleep because she was really sad so Slade had to rub her back softly until she fell asleep. He used to do this for Joey and Grant when they were little and it always worked. It helped them relax.

Afterwards, he left the bedroom and headed for the bathroom to check on Felicity, only to find it empty. Eye widening, he searched through the kitchen and the living room before heading for the balcony and found her leaning over the railing, looking down at the city. She had a leather jacket draped over her. He wondered where she got it but was more concerned about her leaning too far over the railing.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to jump off the balcony," she said in a dull yet stuffy tone. She had been crying a lot so it would make sense she would sound like she caught the flu. "I'm not _that_ crazy."

"The jacket -?"

"It's Sara's," she sniffled, "Oliver had it in Thea's room. It's cold out here so I thought I'd wear it."

Slade stepped into the balcony. It was indeed cold outside but he figured Felicity just wanted to be alone and think. She tugged at the jacket around her tighter and let out a shudder.

Slade slowly walked up behind her and carefully put his hand on her head, petting it and raking his fingers through her damp strands. "You should rest."

Felicity shook her head. "I'm not tired."

Slade sighed and slipped his arm around her shoulder before kissing her gentle on the base between the neck and shoulder-blades. "Yes, you are. I can see it in your eyes. Your face is pale and you have bags under your eyes."

She turned around to face him. Her eyes were watery and red. "How do you expect me to think about sleep when there's a good chance they're going to take Rachel away from me?"

"That's not going to happen," Slade assured her. She scoffed in response.

"How would you know, huh?"

"I'm calling one of my best lawyers to help use out," he informed her, "And Oliver went to talk to Miss Lance."

"Laurel," she half-laughed as if Slade were telling a joke. "Doubt she'll help us out. She practically hates me. I mean, come on, I'm practically the one who caused Sara's death in the first place."

Slade shook his head. He didn't want to hear that. "That's not true, Felicity. You know very well that it was your father who killed Sara."

"Only because she was protecting me and she was getting in his way," Felicity wiped away a few tears from her face. "...I messed up everything. All of this is happening because of me. Colton is killing people because of me. And I've been so caught up in trying to be Black Canary, trying to be me, trying to turn off my humanity, trying to catch Colton and trying to do everything all at once that I failed in trying to be a mother. And now because of all that, they're going to take her away from me. So if Child Services think I'm being neglectful, I think they're right. I am neglectful."

"Don't say that."

A sob tore through her throat and she pressed her face into his chest. Slade was also quite distressed with her behavior. She was so torn about having Rachel taken away from her that it was too much for her to bare. He held her close to him in comfort, smoothing her hair and kissing her head.

"I really messed up big time, Slade," she sobbed, "I failed you. I failed Oliver. I failed Rachel. Sara. Donna. My mom. I failed this city."

"Now you sounded like you've given up," Slade said and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. "Listen to me. Forget about Colton. Forget about Black Canary. You're going to focus one thing and _one thing_ only. We're going to court tomorrow and we will fight for Rachel the best we can. I can't guarantee that we'll win but we're not going down without a fight. Do you understand?"

"...Yes."

He knew that Felicity was the best fighter he ever met, not exactly in physical form but mental and emotional. And he didn't want her to lose the fight she had in her or the humanity she had left.

* * *

 **Gotham City Courthouse**

Felicity and Slade arrived at Gotham City courthouse at exactly 9:11 in the morning. They took the fastest train in Starling City that would get them to Gotham early. And they did. Child Protection Services were waiting for them outside the courtroom as well as a lawyer and a few security guards. They all had solemn faces.

Felicity tried to maintain her head held high. She wore a blue ribbed V-neck dress and a black trench coat with her hair tied back in her usual ponytail and glasses. Her _mask_. Slade wore a grey suit. And Rachel wore a light blue dress with a black ribbon in her Peter Pan collar and white shoes and her dark hair tied in pigtails. She kept complaining of the pigtails, claiming that it made her look stupid. Of course, Felicity insisted she wore the pigtails so it would convince the judge that she did her hair. Felicity never did any braids (or any type of hairstyle) on her because Rachel outright hated braids or having her hair tied. Rachel felt like a porcelain doll and did not like it.

When Rachel saw Child Protection Services, she hid behind Felicity and held her hand tighter.

There were three people from child services, two men and a women. One was identified as John Lone. The other two were unfamiliar. The woman was dressed in a blue-grey suit and had her black hair tied in a ponytail and had glasses like Felicity but looked a lot more colder and bored as if she wanted the trial to be over with.

"Miss Smoak, we're so glad you could make it," the woman said as she approached them. "We were afraid you wouldn't show up."

"And risk having the police barge into my home to take Rachel by force? No thank you," Felicity said sternly, "I always go by the rules as long we play fair. And you are?"

"I'm Merida Li, head of Child Protection Services in Gotham City," the woman introduced herself. She looked at Slade. "And this must be your boyfriend."

"Slade Wilson," he introduced himself with a bow but Felicity could tell by his tense body that he did not like Miss Li. At all.

Miss Li then smiled down at Rachel. "I'm guessing this is her. Rachel Angela Roth. She is indeed an adorable little thing."

Felicity frowned in confusion. "Of course it's her. You should know since she's in your system, after all."

Miss Li nodded and chuckled. She adjusted her glasses. "Yes, of course. So, where's your lawyer?"

"Right here," Laurel said as she appeared right behind the pair, wearing an orange blouse and grey blazer. Felicity looked at her in surprise. She didn't expect Laurel to be here. "I'm Dinah Laurel Lance and I'm Felicity Smoak's attorney. I will be assisting her during trial."

"Are you now?" Miss Li smiled cockily.

"Yes," Laurel blinked and gave the woman a fake smile. "Is there a problem?"

Miss Li shook her head. "No, of course not."

"Good," Laurel said, "I'll have to remind you all that I did a bit of research." Miss Li frowned when Laurel said this. "And according to the law, Rachel has the right to decide whether she wants to be with Felicity or not unless she's suffering through child abuse or any severe danger. By the looks of it, she's completely fine so you have no right to take her away without real evidence of neglect or abuse."

"That's left to be seen, Miss Lance," Miss Li smiled again before heading back to the two men.

Laurel rolled her eyes in annoyance before turning to face Felicity and Slade. "Before you say anything, I'm only doing this because I know that Felicity doesn't deserve to lose more than she already did. Slade? You're a dick but you've also been good to Felicity so I'm proud that you got your head out of your ass. And Felicity?...Thank you. I know that you haven't been able to catch Colton yet but I know that you're trying. I said some things I probably shouldn't have said and I'm sorry for that -."

"Laurel, you have all the rights to be angry," Felicity said.

"I know," Laurel nodded, "But I've been angry for so long, with Oliver and with everyone, I realize that it's not helping me. I was losing myself in anger and resentment. And slapping you in the face was as low as I got. So I'm really sorry for that too. And thank you for trying to avenge my sister's death. You actually did your best when everyone else gave up on her. I just want you to know that I'll do anything I can to help you guys -."

Before she could say anything, Felicity put her arms around Laurel and brought her in a hug. "Thank you."

The bailiff of the court announced that trial was about to begin in five minutes. Felicity let go of Laurel and wiped away the tears that threatened to come out of her eyes. She took deep breaths to calm her pounding heart and nervous trembling. She looked down at Rachel and gave her reassuring smile to which Rachel smiles back.

It was time.

* * *

 **End of Chapter 41**

 **We're almost nearing at the end guys. Just a few more chapters and _Black Smoak_ will be completed.**

 **Colton and the Black Mask definitely have something planned and it will be revealed in the next chapter.**

 **Comment or PM me and tell me what you thought of this chapter or if you have any questions you'd like me to answer.**

 **The next chapter will be posted very soon.**

 **Hope you enjoyed.**


	42. Chapter 42: Trial (Part 2)

**Part 2 of Trial is up next.**

 **Hope you enjoy...because this chapter literally drained the happiness out of my very soul. It sometimes makes me regret writing it since this is a very strong topic to talk about for me but I'm sort of glad I wrote this and got it out of my chest because for me, nothing is worse than being threatened to have your child taken away. I'm not a mother. I don't have kids. But the idea and the feeling of something like this is actually kind of tragic to think about. So I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter I pushed myself to write.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or the characters.**

 **Remember, this is complete fiction of the author's imagination. A 'What if?'**

* * *

It was 10 a.m. The trial has begun. Felicity, Slade, Rachel and Laurel were placed in one side of the court while Child Protection Services were set on the other side.

"Let's see, what do we have this time?" the judge sighed. "Who will speak first?"

Felicity raised her hand and the judge allowed her to speak first. "Your honour, my name is Felicity Megan Smoak and I am the warder of Rachel Angela Roth. I'm here to fight for her custody which is threatened to be taken away by Miss Merida Li from Child Protection Services over claims of negligence -."

"And we have evidence that there has been negligence over ward Rachel Roth," Miss Li interrupts Felicity rudely.

Laurel then steps in boldly. "And we have evidence that there hasn't been any negligence over Rachel Roth. My name is Dinah Laurel Lance and I am the attorney assisting Miss Smoak's case."

"Do you have any evidence proving that there was no negligence towards Miss Roth?" the judge asked.

Laurel nodded and took out a yellow envelope. She walked over to the judge and handed the envelope to him. The judge tore the seal open and took out a few papers from the folders. There were a lot of documents signed by Felicity Smoak, papers full of tax numbers, copies of receipt and number of money Felicity would spend, and on what she would spend.

The judge squinted his beady eyes as he read the papers. "Let's see. Miss Smoak, you purchase a lot of child clothing from The Children's Place, food and you've been buying a lot Crayola from Walmart for the past few weeks."

"Rachel draws a lot, your honour," Felicity explained, "She's a non-stop artist, aren't you?"

Rachel smiled and nodded her head in agreement. "I like painting."

"But I also see that not long ago, you purchased a medication called Hypnocil," the judge said. Laurel looked at Felicity and she gulped nervously. "Hypnocil is an experimental drug. A dream suppressor, Miss Smoak. Children are not supposed to be taking these sort of medications without assuring they're safe."

Felicity nodded. "I'm aware of that, your honour. The medication was not purchased for Rachel. It's for me. I've been having bad dreams these couple of weeks and I thought of buying Hypnocil to avoid having them but I never gave Rachel Hypnocil since I know it can be hazardous for kids." Of course, it was a lie. Felicity indeed gave Rachel Hypnocil one time but never made her take anymore of the bad results with Felicity finding Rachel in the bathtub with her eyes completely black and unresponsive. That was before she found out Rachel was a metahuman though. She would rather not mention this sort of thing to the judge.

"And do you have any evidence to prove that you haven't been giving Hypnocil to Miss Roth?" the judge asked.

She shook her head. She should have had evidence, like a prescription, that would prove she was taking the medication herself. She forgot that detail. "No, I don't, your honour. I only have my word. And I never lie."

"You see, your honour, we have no prescription proving that Felicity was taking Hypnocil by herself," Laurel spoke up again, "but as you can see by the evidence I've just given you, Felicity has shown no neglect towards Rachel Roth. The money she receives from the Child Protection Services are spent on the child and only the child." She returned to sit down next to Felicity and placed an assuring hand on her shoulder.

Now it was Miss Li's turn to speak up. "Thank you, your honour," she bowed her head, "My name is Merida Li and I am the head of the Child Protection Services of Gotham City, and I have evidence proving that Felicity Smoak is neglectful towards her young ward Rachel Angela Roth."

Miss Li got up from her seat and walked over to the judge which Felicity and Laurel found odd. Wasn't the lawyer supposed to do that, not her? Miss Li handed an envelope of her own. "This is a report of an attack at Merlyn Mansion in Starling City. Rachel Roth was left home alone with an elder man going by the name William Randolph Wintergreen when men attacked the premises with guns and everything."

The judge read the report with a scrutinized look on his wrinkled face. "Miss Smoak, can you explain to me who is William Wintergreen?"

"No," Felicity shook her head before turning to Slade, "I have to confess that I don't know anything much about William Wintergreen since I've only been living there for a little while but Slade does know more about him than I do."

Slade then stepped in. "William Wintergreen was the housekeeper of my home. He was also the godfather of my sons Joseph and Grant. My youngest son Joseph and my ex-wife Adeline Wilson died, and I haven't had contact with Grant in a few years. William Wintergreen and I have known each other for years. So Felicity and I entrusted him with our lives. He was a good man."

Miss Li, on the other hand, spoke the contrary. "As far as Child Protection Services know, Rachel Roth shouldn't have been allowed to be taken care by anyone else other than the warder or warders. Miss Smoak disobeyed that rule by leaving Rachel Roth in the care of William Wintergreen, Lyla Diggle, John Diggle and Oliver Queen."

"They are the most trusted people I know," Felicity retorted, "I work with John and Oliver is my boss. Lyla, John's wife, is pregnant and he was more than eager to babysit Rachel while I was at work."

"And what of Oliver Queen, Miss Smoak?" Miss Li asked, "As far as we knew, Oliver Queen was being trialed for the murder of Sara Lance. Not to mention that his mother Moira Queen was involved in the Undertaking with Malcolm Merlyn, causing the earthquake in the Glades that killed thousands of people - ."

"Oliver Queen did not kill Sara Lance," Felicity talked back, "There was evidence that he was going to propose to her before she died. Why would he -?"

The judge interrupted the two ladies by pounding the hammer loudly. "I will not have any fights here in the courtroom, especially in front of the child. Be reminded that this case is about her, not Oliver Queen." He then turned his attention to Felicity Smoak. "I must agree with Miss Li that leaving Rachel Roth in the care of strangers is against the agreements you made with the department."

Felicity nodded. "I understand."

"Not only that but Miss Smoak put her child in danger during the home invasion," Miss Li pointed out.

"Child endangerment is a very serious matter, Miss Smoak," the judge said.

"Neither of us knew there was going to be a home invasion," Felicity explained, "Slade and I were at work. I was going to go home early at midday to take Rachel to the zoo."

"Is this true?" the judge asked the little girl and she nodded. He then looked at Slade. "How about you?"

"I was the former CEO of Queens Consolidated before I gave back the authority to Oliver Queen," Slade said with crossed arms, "I was the first one to be informed."

"I understand but still, child endangerment is a serious matter and it shouldn't be let slide," the judge said.

Felicity took deep breaths in order to calm herself down. She closed her eyes and nodded. Slade put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she was all right. She took his hand and kissed the back of it.

"Also, you used to live at an apartment but recently moved in with Mr. Wilson," the judge read, "May I ask why?"

"Not long ago, my father broke into my apartment and tried to kill me. Well, first he tried to sexually assault me and then kill me. He stabbed me in the gut," Felicity unbuttoned the first two bottom buttons of her dress and showed the judge the light pink scar in her midsection. "I didn't feel safe, knowing that my father could come back and not just hurt me but hurt Rachel also, so under Slade's insistence, I moved in with him. We both felt safe there until recently."

Laurel then spoke up. "Your honour, I have to remind the entire court that Rachel Roth has the right to choose if she wants to stay with my client or not and it would be quite rude for you to deprive her of her rights."

Miss Li contradicted. "The ward is six years old. She does not have the age to choose what she wants."

Felicity bit her lower lip. She would appreciate it if Miss Li would stop referring her as ward and would call her by her real name.

"For once, I agree with Miss Lance, Miss Li," the judge said, "Even at her age, Rachel has the right to choose what she wants."

Miss Li almost huffed in disapproval but nodded in agreement. _This bitch really wants to take Rachel away from me, does she?_ Felicity thought.

"Miss Roth, would you mind coming up to the stand, please?" the judge asked.

Rachel looked at Felicity anxiously. "It's okay, honey. I'll be right here," Felicity said and Rachel obeyed going up to the stand as commanded. Felicity heard something crack in the distance, like glass. _Uh-oh, not this_. She gave Rachel a look, telling her to calm down which she did.

Rachel stood at the stand and felt everyone's eyes on her which made her nervous.

"Now, Rachel, I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to answer them truthfully, all right?" the judged asked. "And I want you to look at me when you answer. Do not look at Felicity or Miss Li. Just me."

Rachel nodded her head, her braids waving around over her shoulders. "Yes, sir."

"How old are you?" he asked.

"I'm six, almost seven," she responded.

"How does Felicity Smoak treat you?"

"She's very nice to me," she responded, "She's been nicer than anyone else has ever been to me."

"Does she ever hit you or yell at you?"

Rachel shook her head. "No. She's never like that. When I do something bad, she tells me how much I worry her and gives me advice but she never hit me or yell."

"What about Slade? Does he ever hit you or yell at you?" He asked. Rachel shook her head. "Not even when Felicity is not home?"

"No. He did get mad at me a little but he never hit me or yell. He just told me not to do it again and I didn't."

"And what is it that you told Slade that made him mad?"

"I talked about his son Joey and he didn't seem to like it so he asked me not to talk about him again," she lied to the judge, "It made him sad and it makes me feel sad."

"Very good, Miss Roth. Now can you tell me what happened at Merlyn Mansion with William Wintergreen?"

"He was a nice man. He died to keep me safe. He took me upstairs and put me in the closet and went downstairs to distract the bad men but they shot him," Rachel explained. Felicity could see the guilt written on the child's face. She looked like she was blaming herself over Wintergreen's death. If only Felicity could tell her it wasn't her fault Wintergreen died.

"Have you ever been put into other dangerous situations before, Miss Roth?" the judge asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No." That was a lie though. She and Felicity were once kidnapped by Gül and Grant once and almost killed but since it was not reported to the police, the child had no reason to mention it to the judge. "Mama has been good to me. And so has Slade."

"And what about Oliver Queen or John Diggle?"

"Ollie is weird and is a bad cook but he's nice and John's cool. His wife Lyla is awesome too and so was Sara," she said it in a tone that stated that she missed Sara. Felicity missed her too. Sara would have known what to do in a situation like this. Oliver and Diggle wanted to help but Felicity claimed that it was _her_ fight and that he appreciated their concern for her.

The judge looked at Felicity, Slade and Laurel and then at Child Protection Services. Felicity could tell by the look on his face that he didn't see anything wrong with Rachel being in her custody, aside from the incident at Merlyn Mansion. She didn't look abused, she didn't look neglected and she didn't look unhappy. She looked like a happy child with a loving mother. Unless Miss Li had another outrageous reason to take Rachel Roth away.

"Your honour, I have something else to show you if you don't mind," Miss Li said in a raised tone. She looked disappointed and a bit impatient right now. She definitely wasn't happy about the judge siding with Felicity Smoak and Slade Wilson. She even glared at Laurel who smirked at her triumphantly.

"After a 5 minute break, Miss Li," the judge said as he stood up from his seat, "Then we'll continue with trial."

The judge disappeared into the backroom and the bailiff led Rachel back to Felicity. The girl jumped to hug Felicity and she was embraced back.

Felicity looked at Laurel with a smile. "Do you think there's a possibility?"

Laurel nodded. "There is. We just need to keep convincing the judge long enough to let you keep Rachel."

"Thank God," Felicity sighed. Slade embraced her and Rachel.

"I told you everything is going to be fine," he said, smiling at them both. He kissed Felicity's lips and then Rachel's head.

Of course, Miss Li remained glaring at them.

* * *

They took a five minute break. Rachel was hungry so Slade went to the vending machine to get her a bag of M&M's. She hated the ones with peanuts. He guessed it was the yellow packet that had the peanuts so he got her the plain ones. Felicity kept talking to Laurel. Laurel was explaining to her that she got a bit drunk the previous night and had a very bad argument with Oliver. It turned out nasty and she left her office. But she didn't let her anger towards Oliver keep her from helping a friend with the child. Felicity really felt bad that things didn't work out between her and Oliver. However, she didn't blame her. Oliver had cheated on Laurel with Sara before the whole island thing started, Tommy died, Oliver kept secrets from her and now Sara was dead. That was a lot for her to take in. But she knew that Laurel was strong. She would never let anything get in her way. She was determined to get what she wanted. Just like Felicity, she learned it the hard way.

Once the five minutes were up, they returned to their positions and the judge came back from his office. He asked Rachel to the stand again and she obeyed. Trial wasn't over yet.

Felicity didn't have a reason to be nervous if everything looked fine but she had a painful knot in her stomach, telling her that something bad could happen in any moment. Something everyone would call _mother instincts_. If they believed only biological mothers had mother instincts, they were dead wrong.

"Miss Li, you had something to show us?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honour," Miss Li nodded, "Forgive me, but Miss Smoak cannot keep her ward."

"Do you have a reason to why not?"

"Yes, your honour. Miss Smoak cannot keep Rachel Roth because the child is an alleged murderer," she said.

Felicity's eyes widened and looked at Slade in shock. Slade was also surprised and so was Laurel. They didn't know this. Felicity never told them of Rachel's history at the orphanage, a grave mistake she would pay dearly. Rachel looked at Felicity fearfully. Even _she_ didn't expect this to happen.

"A murderer, Miss Li," the judge frowned in confusion, "Impossible. This child doesn't look she has ever killed a fly."

"I have the reports right here from Gotham City Police Department, explaining everything," she said as she walked over to the judge and handed a folder to him.

"Objection!" Laurel proclaimed, "We are here to discuss the incident of Merlyn Mansion, not to the discuss a murder case alleged towards a minor."

"It's not just about the incident of the Merlyn Mansion we're concerned about, Miss Lance," Miss Li said with her hands calmly clamped behind her back, "But it's also whether your client should be allowed to have custody of a child being accused of murdering her biological mother Angela Roth."

"She's right, Miss Lance," the judge said, "Even if Felicity Smoak is not a neglectful mother, we are not just concerned for the child's safety but also the mother's."

"No, Rachel is not a murderer!" Felicity cried out, "She would never hurt me. I wouldn't be here right now -."

"Who knows, Miss Smoak, maybe the child is planning it out -."

"Objection, your honour! Miss Li is not allowed to taunt my client!" Laurel shouted.

The judged slammed the hammer in front of him. "Order in the court! All of you. Miss Li, Miss Lance, Miss Smoak. I expect composure and control. None of this is helping. Miss Li, this court does not permit taunting. Miss Smoak and Miss Lance, I suggest the both of you to contain yourselves. If not, I'll have security escort the three of you ladies out of the courtroom."

Felicity was about to say something but Slade put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her from saying anything else. He didn't look too happy about her not telling her about Rahcel's real history. He would have a lot of questions if they ever got out of this. And so would Laurel.

The judge continued to open the folder and read the reports.

Miss Li continued speaking out. "According to the reports, Rachel Roth was found in Crime Alley by Batman and Nightwing two years ago. Her gown was covered in blood and she was showing hostile behavior towards the caped crusader and his sidekick. Then they found her holding a dead woman, with her neck bitten and torn. The DNA tests confirmed that the dead woman she was holding was her mother Angela Roth who was reported missing from Gotham for ten years after she ran away from home after being physically abused by her religious parents. Angela Roth was wearing a cloak when she was found which indicates that she and Rachel Roth were running away from some kind of cult."

"Two years ago? That would mean the child was four," the judge said, "How can a four-year-old child possibly murder a mother."

"That is what GCPD was trying to find out," Miss Li continued, "They've been trying to find other explanations to debunk the possibility that Miss Roth murdered her own mother but the majority of the evidence points to her. The blood on her dress belongs to the mother, the saliva on the wounds to the child. Tell me, your honour, does that sound suspicious or not?"

"As much as I want to deny it, the evidence here are quite valid," he said, "There's also a report of her previously attacking a young boy at the orphanage. She bit her shoulder or ear or something."

"Miss Smoak knew of the attack but the caretaker of the orphanage didn't charge the child for it," Miss Li continued, "Instead, she illegally gave Felicity Smoak full custody of the ward without preparations just to get rid of her. And I'm to guess Mr. Wilson or Miss Lance did not know about this either."

Felicity bit her lower lip and shook her head. "No, they didn't. I didn't think of telling them. I wanted to but it never crossed my mind until now."

"Felicity didn't tell me because were facing other important matters, your honour," Slade explained, "I've been so occupied that I've neglected to ask more of the child. I never knew something like this could happen."

"Well, Mr. Wilson, what do you think of this?" the judge asked.

"What do I think? I think Child Protection Services is trying to find an excuse to take Rachel away from Felicity," Slade growled while glaring at Miss Li and the rest of Child Protection Services. "Alleged murder or not, Rachel hasn't done any harm to us and has never planned to. I've watched her myself. She's a good child and she's just as mine as she is Felicity's."

"So you don't care if Rachel Roth is being accused of murder?" the judge asked.

"No, I don't care," he said while looking at Felicity who whispered thank you. He still didn't look too happy that she kept the information from him.

"But the question still remains," Miss Li said, "Did Rachel Roth kill her mother Angela Roth or not? Of course, that is the answer only the child know."

Now everyone was looking at Rachel as if waiting for her to answer. The child simply sat there, looking at all of them worriedly. Even Felicity was waiting for her to say something. Eyes prickled in Rachel's eyes and she began to shake her head sideways.

"I think Miss Roth knows something, doesn't she?" Miss Li says in a taunting tone, "Mind telling us what that is, Rachel?" she asked. Rachel simply continued to shake her head and her head grasping her hair. "Rachel if you have something to tell us, tell us now and you can go back home or we're going to have a big problem -."

"Stop it! You're scaring her!" Felicity snapped at Miss Li.

"Objection! Your honour, she's threatening a child!" Laurel snapped.

"Enough!" the judge shouted impatiently while he continued to slam the hammer.

"She told me to!" Rachel screamed.

The entire courtroom went silent and everyone renewed their attention on her. Felicity stared at her in confusion. What was she talking about?

"She told me not to talk!" Rachel cried profusely, "She told me I would be safe if I didn't talk!"

"Who told you that, Rachel?" the judge asked calmly.

Rachel continued crying. "Mama. Angela! Angela told me not to talk!"

"Rachel?" Felicity stared at her in shock.

"What didn't your mom want you to say?" the judge asked again.

"The truth," Rachel said, "She made me do it! She made me kill her!" Everyone stared at her in shock, including Miss Li as if she wasn't expecting for her to say that. Felicity covered her mouth as she gasped in horror.

"Why would your mother make you kill her, Rachel?" the shocked judge continued asked.

"Because of my father," she explained tearfully, "My mom said that my father was the devil and that he wanted to hurt us so we ran from home. But then she told me that if dad finds her, he'll find me. So she made me do it. She told me to kill her." She kept shaking her head. "But I didn't want to kill her. I loved my mom. She kept telling me to kill her and I told her no again. She got mad at me and hit me. She wouldn't stop hitting me until I did what she told me to do. I killed her. I killed my mother because she told me to. I wanted to tell but she said no. That I would be safe if I didn't tell."

"Your mom lied, Rachel," Laurel said sternly before Miss Li could open her goddamn mouth again. "If you've mentioned it, you wouldn't be accused of murderer in the first place. What your mother did was get you into a lot of trouble with GCPD and Child Protection Services."

"I'm sorry," she apologized, to Felicity, not Laurel. Felicity simply stared at her, face red and eyes filled with tears before looking at the judge.

"It doesn't count," she swallowed up her tears, "It doesn't count if her mother made her do it. It doesn't count. Your honour, please."

"Is your love for your ward clouding your judgement, Miss Smoak," Miss Li questioned, "Or is it denial. You already heard her confession. Even if it's involuntary, it's still murder. Your honour, this girl has been holding the guilt and memory of involuntary manslaughter caused by possible emotional manipulation of her biological mother and physical abuse by the biological father. There's a possibility this type of trauma has made the child mentally and emotionally unstable, the possible reason of why she attacked the boy at the orphanage. If the girl is not charged for involuntary manslaughter, also known as fourth degree murder, then I suggest further investigation of her mental state and denying Felicity Smoak's custody for the time being until the investigation is completed and then we may decide if Felicity Smoak will remain being the warder or if Rachel Roth will be assigned to a new foster parent. If neither, then I'm afraid we'll have temporarily hospitalize her in mental institution."

"What!? No!" Felicity snapped, "You can't do this! She's only six years old!"

Even Slade found the suggestion as preposterous. "Your honour, as much as I believe Rachel _does_ need professional help, the suggestion of a mental institution is beyond extreme. She's a child and a very sensitive one."

"She doesn't have the age to be hospitalized in an institution, sir," Laurel said.

"I'm sorry, Miss Lance, Miss Smoak and Mr. Wilson but all the evidence is right here," the judge said, still looking at the folder in disbelief, "but if it's true what the reports say and due to the testament of the child, I'm afraid you can't keep the child."

"Please, don't do this," Felicity begged tearfully, "Don't take her away. She's my daughter."

"I'm sorry," the judge apologized, "Felicity Megan Smoak, your custody over Rachel Angel Roth is withdrawn and denied until further investigation. Child Protection Services will be taking her back and then the next trial will decide what's to be done with her. Case closed."

After the judge dismissed them, the bailiff led Rachel down from the stand and was taking her to Miss Li. However, Rachel wrenched out of the bailiff's grasp and ran to Felicity who kneeled and embraced her tightly. "Mama! I don't want to go!" she wailed tearfully. Felicity cried and held her tighter as the bailiff approached and pried Rachel away from her.

"Please!" Felicity tried to pursue the bailiff but Slade held her back and embraced her in order to comfort her and to keep her from making the situation even worse.

* * *

After trial, Child Protection Services were led out one way while Felicity, Slade and Laurel were sent out the other way to avoid any hostility, not that Felicity was going to do anything, especially not in front of Rachel. They've won. She lost. They were going to take away Rachel. Now she couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm aggravated that you neglected to share this information with me, Felicity," Slade said as they were being led out of the courtroom. Felicity's face was red from all the crying with her eyes still watery and her lip trembling.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I meant to tell you but with everything...I have no excuse. I'm sorry. I should have told you. I'm so fucking stupid."

"You should have told me. We would have done something to avoid this," Slade growled and scratched the back of his head in frustration. "And Laurel. You should have told her as well but you neglected to say this also."

"I know. We can't let them take Rachel away, Slade," Felicity tearfully said, "They'll lock her up. Probably in Arkham Asylum and we know very well that's no place for a little girl."

"I agree, love. We'll do everything we can but right now, it's out of our hands," Slade said, "We can't do anything about it and if we did, it wouldn't be legal, now would it?"

"Slade's right, Felicity," Laurel agreed, "We can't do anything to take Rachel back that involves illegal action. Even if we did, it would just turn into a game of ping-pong."

Felicity shook her head. "There has to be something we can do."

"I really am sorry, Felicity," Laurel apologized, "I wish I could have done more."

"It's not your fault, Laurel," Felicity assured her, "You did the best you could." She turned around to see Miss Li and the rest of Child Protection Services leaving Gotham Courthouse with Rachel. The little girl looked over her shoulder to stare at Felicity tearfully. Felicity couldn't help but cry as well. They were taking away her daughter and she couldn't do anything about it. Rachel mouthed something to Felicity but couldn't quite understand it. She wanted to get closer. She wanted to hug Rachel at least one last time. "They wouldn't even let me hug her."

"Doubt they'll allow you to have any form of contact with her, love," Slade said. He wasn't trying to be pessimist. He was trying to be realist and make Felicity understand that they couldn't go near Rachel without causing a brawl with Miss Li and her partners.

Rachel continued to mouth something to Felicity as she was being dragged by Miss Li and kept eyeing at her hand. Felicity frowned in confusion and looked at Miss Li's hand that held the girl's. On the back of Miss Li's hand, there was a black skull tattoo. Felicity's eyes widened when she noticed it and turned to her lover. "Slade? Look." Slade did what she said and saw the skull tattoo on the back of Miss Li's hand.

"Hey!" Slade shouted, "Stop them! Guards!"

"They're not Child Services!" Felicity screamed.

Just as Felicity screamed that, Miss Li took out a gun and began to fire at them. Slade quickly pushed Laurel back, grabbed Felicity and turned to shield her from the gunfire. He yelled when two bullets hit him in the back. Laurel ran and hid in the next hallway to keep herself from being shot. The guards that were with the trio took out their guns and began to fire at Miss Li. The two men that were with Miss Li took out their own guns and began to shoot as well.

"No!" Felicity screamed, "They'll kill her!"

Miss Li grabbed Rachel and bolted out of the courthouse while the two men remained shooting at Felicity and Slade. The two guards that were shooting back got shot and killed in the process, blood gushing and their bodies dropping to the floor. The judge, who heard the commotion, came out of the courtroom and got shot in the neck which killed him in seconds.

After this, the two men left the courthouse running.

Felicity as she looked at Slade. His face showed pain as he slowly stood up, pulling her up from the floor in the process. Laurel emerged from her hiding, panting, trembling and tears going down her face. "Oh my God," she panted.

Felicity checked Slade's back. His coat had bloody holes on it. "Are you okay?"

"It doesn't matter right now," he grunted in pain. "Those were Black Mask's men and Miss Li is his bitch."

"They took Rachel," Felicity cried in horror, "They took her. They're going to kill her."

"Not if we can stop them," he said. He took Felicity by the hand and took off, leaving Laurel behind.

"Call 9-1-1!" Felicity instructed her with a shout.

Laurel nodded as she took out her cellphone and dialed 9-1-1. Her trembling hand held her cellphone to her ear and waited for someone to answer. " _9-1-1, what is your emergency?_ "

"Hello, my name is Dinah Laurel Lance. I'm in Gotham City Courthouse reporting a kidnapping..."

* * *

Felicity and Slade raced to the car as they watched Miss Li push Rachel into a black Audi a6 car and it drove away. The pair entered the car and proceeded to follow them.

"Please don't take her! Please don't take her!" Felicity kept begging tearfully as Slade continued to drive after them at full speed. He wasn't going to let them get away with this. He already lost too much, his ex-wife, his sons, Shado. He wasn't going to let Black Mask and his bitch Miss Li take Rachel away from him and Felicity. "Please don't -"

"We'll get her back, Felicity," Slade assured her, "I'm not letting Black Mask take her away. I promise."

"Why does Sionis want her?" she cried, "I mean, I know he probably wants revenge on us for trying to kill him but why her? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Remember, love, Sionis is not the only man that wants to make us suffer," Slade said.

Once she heard him say that, her eyes widened in horror and realization. "Oh my God, Sionis is going to give Rachel to my father! He's going to give her to Colton!"

"Miss Li is going to deliver Rachel to Sionis first at his headquarters," Slade informed. The Audi drove around a red car . As soon as as Slade tried to do the same, a green car got in the way, blocking his opportunity. Slade growled in frustration before bashing the side of his car with the green one and drove around the red one. "Sorry about that, mate," Slade apologized between his teeth as he continued to chase after the Audi. "We can't let them get to the building."

"It's me he wants Slade," she reminded him, "Rachel is in this mess because of me. Colton is going to use her as bait to get to me."

"Well, I hate to disappoint Colton but I won't let him have neither of you," Slade kept assuring her.

The Audi kept speeding ahead of them. Slade stepped on the gas pedal to catch up to them. The two cars kept zig-zagging around other and making turns through different streets, the Audi car trying to lose Slade's car while Slade tried reaching for them.

Meanwhile, Felicity took out her cellphone and dialed 9-1-1. She put the phone to her ear and waited for them to answer. _"9-1-1, what is your emergency?"_

"Hello, my name is Felicity Smoak and I'm in a car chase right now," she informed, "My daughter just got kidnapped out of Gotham City Courthouse and now my boyfriend and I are chasing the car they took her in. I need the GCPD in this right now."

 _"We're informing GCPD right now. Can you identify the car you're chasing right now?"_

"Yes, it's a -"

The crash came out of nowhere but it came anyway. A truck appeared from an ally out of nowhere and smashed into Slade's car, causing it to spin and ended up crashing into another car at the sidewalk. Luckily that one was empty.

Slade groaned as he sat up straight from his seat. He touched his head and say blood on his fingertips. He looked at the window next to him to see it cracked and splattered with blood. He must have hit head against it when the truck hit the car.

"Felicity..." Slade looked to his right and found Felicity unconscious with blood trickling down her right temple, her head tilted aside, the cellphone still in her hand and glass covering her body. "Felicity!" He took off his seatbelt and checked her pulse, pressing his fingers to her neck. She was still alive. _Thank God_.

But they lost the Audi. And they lost Rachel also with it. _Damn it!_

He took Felicity's cellphone to talk to the operator. "There was an accident. I need an ambulance. We were chasing the black car where my girlfriend's daughter is in and a truck hit us. I'm a'right but my girlfriend... she's injured. I need help immediately -"

Slade was immediately interrupted as a black gloved hand took the cellphone from him. He looked out his car window to see the Dark Knight of Gotham himself.

* * *

Rachel was sitting on the backseat next to Miss Li, trembling and crying in fear. She felt her foster mother's suddenly pain. She looked through the back window to see Slade's car gone. They were gone. Rachel was then pulled back down to her seat by Miss Li.

"Did they stop following us?" Miss Li asked.

"Yes, Miss," one of the men said, "We finally lost them."

"Good," she smirked, "We don't want them coming after us just yet. Mr. Sionis will give us instructions once we arrive -."

They suddenly heard a loud thump on the roof of the car. Both Miss Li and Rachel looked up at the sound. Rachel smiled as she felt a familiar presence arrive.

"Whoever is up there, shoot it now!" Miss Li ordered. One of the men grabbed his gun and leaned out the window to shoot whoever was in the car but yelled when he was suddenly hauled out of the car and thrown into the streets. "What the fuck was that!?"

A boy jumped onto the hood of the car and smashed his fist through the windshield. It was Damian/Robin.

"Robin!" Rachel shouted, letting him know that she was in the backseat with Miss Li but the lady clamped a hand over the child's mouth to shut her up and began to shoot at the boy wonder.

Robin put up his left forearm and the bullets bounced off the green metal bracer around his wrist while holding on to the shattered windshield. The driver tried to grab his gun and shoot at him but Robin proceeded to punch the driver a couple of times until he was unconscious. It probably wasn't the best idea when the car began to sway sideways. Without a driver, the car could crash in any moment. He had to grab Rachel and jump out of there.

Miss Li quickly scrambled to the driver's seat and grabbed the steering wheel, trying to keep the car from crashing into other cars. Meanwhile, Robin climbed up the roof again, and raced to the other side of the car where Rachel would be.

Rachel covered her eyes as Robin smashed the window on the left side of the backseat and leaned through. "Take my hand!"

She nodded and reached out to grab Robin's hand. However, Miss Li saw this and kicked Rachel's hand, pinning it to the backseat with the heel of her shoe. Rachel screamed in pain. Miss Li steered the car to the wall of a building, also scaring pedestrians from the sidewalk, hoping to crush Robin. The boy wonder jumped on the roof again to avoid being crushed between the wall and the car. Sparks flew and metal scraped loudly. Once the car was back on the road, Robin leaned into the car again and stabbed Miss Li's foot with a dagger. Miss Li cried out in pain and moved her foot away, giving Rachel the chance to retract her hand back. The girl looked at the mark on the back of her hand Miss Li left with her heel.

Miss Li couldn't steer because of the unconscious driver in the way so she opened the door and pushed him out of the car. The driver got ran over by another incoming car. She struggled to get to the driver's seat and take control of the car again.

Robin tried to reach Rachel once more. "Let's go!"

Rachel grabbed his hand and he began to pull her out. But then she saw something heading their way. An incoming truck and it was driving right at the boy wonder.

"Look out!" she screamed and her eyes turned black again.

"No!" Robin knew what she was doing and tried to stop her but his body already flew back before the truck drove past and he smashed through the display window of a nearby shop. The clients and employees screamed and ran as the boy wonder's body smashed through display window and collided with the white model mannequins.

Robin struggled to sit up but cried out when he felt pain shoot straight up his arm. He broke it when he fell.

He looked out the display window and watched the black car get away. "Damn it!" he growled.

* * *

 **Well, things are getting even more...concerning.**

 **Next chapter will include the appearance of Batman which is one of the parts I'm excited to write.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know in the comments.**


	43. Chapter 43: Ablaze (Part 1)

**Noticed anything different? Yes, I just changed the title of the story to** ** _The Canary Cry._**

* * *

"Is she a'right?" Slade asked while watching Felicity on a hospital bed while connected to a heartrate monitor. Only, they weren't in the hospital. They were in the legendary Batcave with the Dark Knight himself (Batman) and the Boy Wonder. While in the Batcave, Felicity was attended urgently by an elder man that looked a lot like Wintergreen but he was actually named Alfred Pennyworth. After she was attended, Slade had the bullet on his back removed with tweezers but didn't need any stitches since the holes on his back sealed up by themselves as soon as the bullets were removed. Slade would look at the monitor every now, worried that her heartrate would go critical or die out in any second.

"She's okay," the Batman said, "My friend had to remove glass that was jammed in her ribcage. She's lucky it didn't puncture a lung or any vital organs. Her arm was dislocated during the accident and snapped her collarbone -."

"Will she live?" Slade asked gruffly. He didn't care much for the medical jibber-jabber. All he wanted to know if she was going to be all right or not.

"She will," Batman said, "But she needs to rest for awhile until she gets better -."

"Black Mask has Rachel," Slade interrupted him, "He's going to give her to Colton Smoak. Doubt there's any time to rest."

"Maybe this might give you the opportunity to explain what the fuckshit you two were thinking," Batman growled with his arms crossed, "Pursuing people with guns, driving a car out of a road and getting hit by a truck? Do you know the dangers you've put yourselves in? A judge is dead -."

"And now a six-year-old girl is kidnapped by one of the most dangerous crime lords in Gotham," Slade snapped while turning around to face him. Batman simply glared at him. "I think that's more worrisome than a dead judge, don't you think?"

"A dead judge, a bailiff and three security guards," Batman reminded him. "Not to mention one of Black Mask's henchmen Miss Li threw into the road. Robin came back with a broken arm and told me everything. He lost the Audi containing Miss Li and Rachel."

"At least the boy did more than you did," Slade criticized as he looked over to where the boy Damian was, having his forearm bandaged and casted by Alfred. "Black Mask is going to hand over Rachel to Colton. He's going to use her as bait to get to Felicity."

"Then it's best if Felicity stays here," Batman instructed. Slade frowned. Rachel got captured by the Black Mask and Batman wants him and Felicity to stay in the cave? _Was he fucking kidding?_

"It's her daughter," Slade said.

"I understand that. But I don't think it's a good idea that she tries to rescue the kid herself," Batman said, "If she lets her emotions get to her, there's a good chance that whatever plan we'll have to save Rachel, she'll botch it up charging in to save her. And judging by what happened in the streets, I don't think she's neither mentally or emotionally stable at the moment."

"Doubt she'll be stable being here while her daughter could be killed at any moment. She'll lose her mind if you keep her down here," Slade warned him. He saw how Felicity was when they were pursuing the Audi. She was going crazy with worry. He couldn't imagine it would be like now once she woke up to find herself imprisoned in the Batcave and not allowed to leave to save Rachel on her own. She would certainly lose her shit.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson," Batman lamented, "I really am. I promise I'll do everything in my power to save Rachel. But Felicity is not leaving the Batcave and that is final."

"And what of me?" Slade asked.

"You're staying by her side," Batman said, "I'll call Nightwing and Batwoman to help me find the girl. You two stay put."

He then left Slade alone with Felicity, returning to the computers where he would search for Roman Sionis. Slade frowned. Batman already knew where Sionis was and Slade was well-aware Batman could take Sionis and his men down with no problem. Why was he wasting his time calling back-up when all he needed to do is rescue Rachel and take Sionis down.

Once Alfred was done, Damian went over to Slade with his arm casted. "Thanks to her kid, I broke my arm."

Slade frowned at the little boy. "What are you talking about?"

"I could have saved her," he explained, "but she pushed me out. She saw an incoming truck coming right towards me and panicked. She used that telekinetic powers on me and blasted me into a store. That's how I broke my arm."

"Did she now?" Slade smirked, "She is one selfless girl. And noble. Risking her life to save another. Bet you don't see that every day."

Damian shook his head. "No. Most of the time it's the victim begging to be saved even if the hero is about to die." He remained silent, looking at Felicity's unconscious form and the heartrate monitor still beeping. He then looked at Slade. "Listen. I shouldn't be telling you this but since she saved my life, I think it's fair to return the favour. Batman may be planning on saving Rachel but he's not going to give her back to you _or_ her." Slade frowned at Damian when he said. So Batman wasn't being completely honest with him. "Once he saves her from Black Mask, he's handing her over to Child Protection Services, the real ones, as determined by the judge that was killed where she'll be further investigated for the murder of her biological mother Angela Roth."

 _That son of a bitch_ , Slade thought while glaring at Batman who still had his back turned to them.

"You want her back? Then you better hope she wakes up," Damian suggested, again looking at Felicity, "because you're running out of time."

"The Bat says she might remain unconscious for a few days -."

"Batman doesn't know anything," Damian muttered as he took out a syringe full of green liquid. For a frightening moment, it looked similar to Mirakuru but Slade then realized the green colour had a different tone. "This should wake her up within an hour. It's stronger than adrenaline so I have to use a small dosage. Any higher dosage can kill her in seconds." Damian walked over to the saline bag where he stuck the needle into the port of the saline tube and pushed down the plunger, green liquid going down the tube into her arm.

"I don't think we have an hour," Slade sighed.

"Then you're going to have to suck it up and hope that the kid is still alive," Damian sneered, "One hour is all I can give her."

Slade nodded and thanked Damian for the help. The boy left the Batcave. Slade held Felicity's hand, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. "Come on, love. Your daughter needs you."

* * *

"So, you're the little girl many were fussing about?" Black Mask contemplated Rachel who was sitting at the opposite side of his desk. She looked small and scared, her eyes water and almost hugging herself. She looked so weak. She didn't look so intimidating. She didn't even look worth the while.

"You...You're the mean man that killed Wintergreen," Rachel said. It didn't take her more than a few minutes to figure it out. It was quite obvious. His black skull mask looked awfully similar to the tattoos the killers had on the back of their hands.

"Small but sharp," Sionis mused, "I'm guessing you do have a bit of value. Of course, just to be clear, it's not you that Colton wants, it's Felicity he wants. You're just bait."

Rachel remained silent and looked around, looking for any exits she could go through. All of the entrances were blocked by Roman Sionis' men with big heavy guns. She then looked back at Sionis. "I want my mom."

Sionis chuckled. "Cute. You still think Felicity Smoak is your mother." Oh how he loved to burst people's bubbles. "She's not your mother, kid. You're adopted."

"I know," she said, "but she's still my mom."

Sionis looked at Miss Li who simply adjusted her glasses and explained: "She knows she's adopted, sir."

"Well, isn't that interesting," Sionis said with arms crossed. "Most foster parents would never want their kids to know they're adopted. I'm guessing you were recently adopted. It makes me wonder why she loved you so quickly. Or that you loved her back. I'm guessing you simply needed a tit to suck on."

"You're a bad man," Rachel said, staring at him coldly.

"Don't worry, kid, Colton is worse," Sionis chuckled sinisterly, "You have no idea what he has planned for you. You're going to wish you were dead."

Rachel smirked when he said that. "Took the words out of my mouth."

Her eyes blackened and a strange sizzling sound could be heard. Sionis was suddenly feeling very hot inside his skull mask. He reached up to take it off but hiss when his hands made contact with hot metal. _What the hell?_

He then began to scream when he felt his mask burn and melt into his face. Miss Li gasped and screamed in shock at the sight of Sionis' mask melting to his face. Sionis feels his flesh burn away because of the blazing hot metal. Rachel simply smirked maliciously.

Sionis looked up to see the child smirk and he yelled in anger, slapping her against the face and knocking her out. The melting stopped by the mask still burned torridly.

"Get her out of here!" Sionis screamed. "Get her the fuck out of here!"

Two guards grabbed the unconscious child and dragged her away from his office.

* * *

Felicity was walking around Nelson Plaza in the Black Canary costume, wondering how she got here. One minute she was in a car chase in Gotham City before getting struck by a truck. Now she was in Nelson Plaza back in Starling City. What was weird was that the entire city looked empty, vacant, inhabitant. Not a single person in sight. Slade? Laurel? Oliver? Dig? Rachel? Where is everyone?

She hoped she wasn't having one of those nightmares where Colton can distort and manipulate it.

She walked through the plaza and sighed of relief when she saw someone sitting at the bottom staircase of Nelson Plaza, a woman with hair who had her back turned to her while feeding seeds to the cooing pigeons in front of her. Felicity slowly approached the woman, careful not to scare her away.

"Excuse me, can you tell me how I got here?" she asked.

"Starling City, duh," the woman said as she kept tossing the seeds to the birds, "Well, not exactly Starling City. It's more like a copy. This is most likely to be the limbo. It's not heaven or hell."

"You mean like the in-between?"

"Sort. I don't call it inbetween though. I prefer calling it limbo. It's funnier."

"Am I dying?" Felicity asked.

"Not really. You're just in a temporary coma. You'll wake up soon." The woman turned around to face Felicity.

Her eyes widened when recognizing the woman. "Sara."

Sara smiled at her. "Hey. Glad to see you again."

"But you're...dead," Felicity nearly stuttered in shock.

"I _am_ dead," she said, "I'm just stuck here until the big man upstairs decides where I should go. He's taking a long time though. I did so many good things and bad things in my life that he doesn't know what to do with me at the moment."

"So I'm guessing there really is such thing as God," Felicity said as she went to sit down next to her. "A very indecisive one, that is."

"No kidding," Sara chuckled, "Most of the people that were in the limbo have already gone to either heaven or hell. Most of the people that were here were either from the earthquake or from other killings. Of course the only two people I haven't seen are Isabel or Moira. I'm guessing both of them went straight to hell...That sounded a bit cruel, didn't it?"

"Kinda," Felicity nodded.

Sara looked up and down at Felicity, staring at the attire she was wearing. "You look good. I'm glad you decided to change costume. I'm guessing mine wasn't working out for you."

Felicity gave her a small smile and tugged at the sleeve of her costume. "Yeah, there were a few things I didn't enjoy while wearing it, like your pants giving me a wedgie and my cleavage being exposed to cold and danger."

Sara laughed amusingly. "You understand my pain now. You know, my Dad used to take me here sometimes to feed the pigeons. "

"Yeah," Felicity nodded in agreement. They remained silent for a moment with Felicity watching Sara feed the pigeons. "I messed up everything, didn't I? Big time."

Sara shook her head. "Not really. You could have done worse."

"I let my paranoia get the best of me and for that, I just got Rachel kidnapped and I couldn't do anything to stop it," Felicity told her, looking down at her shaky hands, "I don't see how it can't get any worse."

"You could have ended up like me," Sara joked although Felicity didn't find it very funny. "Not dead, I mean. I meant that I was trained to kill, kill and kill when I was found by the League of Assassins in Nanda Parbat. I felt so helpless after what happened in Lian Yu I guess I didn't want to feel helpless ever again. Looks like I took a little _bit_ too far. I never stopped killing until I returned to Starling City where I learned not to kill. But you have no idea how difficult it was for me not to kill every single one of the assholes roaming around in Starling City. How hard it was to stop. There were even moments where I did try to kill but had to stop myself. I kept having nightmares where I actually killed all of you. I hated it. I no longer have nightmares. I don't even dream anymore."

"I'm sorry you died," Felicity apologized to her. She never had the opportunity to say how much she was sorry about her getting killed. "It's my fault you died -."

"You do realize that the real murderer here is Colton, right?" Sara continued saying, "I never blamed you. Hell, if that were the case, I'd be haunting you right now and not feeding the pigeons here." She laughed. "Thinking about it, I feel happier than when I was alive. I don't have to worry being the Canary and have the entire world weighing down on my shoulders. Of course, I'm not the only one thinking the same thing. Oliver sometimes wishes he never took the Arrow mantle in the first place."

Felicity sighed. "Sometimes I regret putting the Black Canary costume."

"Doubt it," Sara chuckled. Felicity frowned, wondering what she meant by it. "Do you know the first thing I was thinking when I saw you putting on my mask, after the funeral? I was thinking _don't do it_. _You're going to get yourself killed, Felicity_. _You're not cut up for this Felicity. Let someone else do it, Felicity. Give it to Laurel, Felicity_. But as I kept watching, I saw you work your ass off trying to be me. You kept insisting that I wanted you to do this when in reality, it was you who wanted to do this. You wanted to be the Canary no matter what it took. And after watching, you being the Canary wasn't as bad as I thought."

"You're right about one thing though. I should have given it to Laurel," Felicity said, "Her father is the police. She already knew self-defense and she had more capability of being Black Canary than me."

"But Laurel is driven by anger and hatred and as much as I trust my sister, I don't trust the mantle," Sara said, "The Black Canary changes people and I know that if Laurel takes it with anger, bad things can happen to her."

"What about me?" Felicity asked.

"You? Wow, you're driven by a lot of things: grief, anger, guilt, fear, desperation, protection and sense of justice," Sara told her, "That's enough to create a ticking time bomb. Of course, that's also enough to turn someone into a vigilante."

"I tried to be a vigilante for you, for Slade, for Rachel and for everyone but I kept shitting at it. I've always had second thoughts at it. Maybe I was never cut up for Black Canary. May have abilities but -."

"I didn't have abilities and I ended up being the Canary either way," Sara pointed out, "What's going to happen if you lose your abilities one day? Just sit around and cry because you thought your screams make you Black Canary? No. Your screams don't make you Black Canary. The costume doesn't make you Black Canary. Not even your name makes you Black Canary. Anyone that puts on the damn Canary costume can say they're Black Canary when they're not. You can get a girl named Evelyn Sharp to put on the Canary and she wouldn't be Black Canary. Sure hell it didn't make me Black Canary. I had to earn that first and it took me years to realize -." Sara paused for a moment.

"Realized what?" Felicity asked.

"Maybe I wasn't made to become Black Canary or the Canary," Sara said, "Maybe I was made for something else. It was definitely not to be Black Canary...or dead."

"Maybe you might come back."

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm going straight to hell. My point is that none of those things make you Black Canary," Sara said, "What made me Black Canary was that I never gave up for anything or anyone, fighting for what's right no matter what it takes or how much it hurts. The same thing is happening with you. As much as you said you wanted to give up being Black Canary, you never did because deep down inside you don't want to give. You want to keep fighting to the very end for what's right no matter what it takes. And no matter how much it hurts, you keep fighting and that's what makes a Black Canary."

"Laurel can do it. She's not afraid to take risks," Felicity pointed out.

"Yeah, she can. But she didn't take the mask first, did she? And she never asked you for the mantle. She's letting you."

"I'm afraid."

"Trust me," Sara sighed, "So was I. But I risked it. I risked everything, my father, my sister and my life. I risked everything just to keep people safe. You? You were afraid to take risks but you do it anyways. It surprises me."

"It's not just the whole being Black Canary that's bothering me, Sara," Felicity stood up and began pacing around with her arms crossed. "It's about me and letting Rachel get kidnapped. Black Mask is going to hand over Rachel to Colton and I'm here in a coma not doing anything about it. She could be dead right now and...I don't know what to do anymore. This sucks."

"It's not like you can save everyone, Felicity," Sara replied defensively, "Do you know how many people I could have saved and still died in my hands? I have a long list of people I tried to save and they still died. I was like you, Felicity. I wanted to save everyone. I wanted to be the kind of hero that can stop world hunger or that can turn back time to stop a disaster in time but it never happened because in reality, neither you and I can save everyone. People die every day from different things and no one can stop death. It's just life and life can be a cruel bitch, something I forced myself to learn the hard way."

"...I can't let her die, Sara. I just can't."

"Then don't let her die. If you want to save Rachel so much. Then do it. If you think you can save her then do it. But if you can't save her... If she dies, you're going to have to learn to live with that. You know why? Because it's reality and it's going to be like a punch in the face," Sara said sternly. "Do you understand that?"

Felicity nodded and Sara brought her in a tight embrace. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," Sara said, "I miss all of you. Mom. Dad. Laurel. Oliver. Diggle. Thea. Everyone. Well, except Slade."

"And would you please kill Colton for crying out loud? I'm dying to get my hands on him when he dies," she said.

"Don't worry about that," Felicity assured her, "I'll make sure he gets what he deserves."

Sara smiled. "That's my girl. You're still cute."

She embraced Felicity once more before whispering something in her ear. "Time's up."

Felicity snapped her eyes open and sat up from the hospital bed, gasping. Of course, she wasn't in a hospital. She was in some sort of cave and a very big one. And there was a lot of equipment in the cave, modern technology.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder but sighed in relief when she saw it was just Slade sitting next to her. She embraced him tightly. "Thank God."

"I should be thanking God myself," Slade sighed, "I was worried you wouldn't wake up."

"How...How did we get here?" she asked, looking around in confusion. Her eyes widened when she spotted Batman standing just a few feet away from them, staring at them. "Oh my God, that's Batman."

"I know," Slade nodded. "He brought us here for our protection."

Felicity shook her head. "No. Slade, we can't be here. Sionis has Rachel. He's going to give her to Colton. We can't let that happen."

"And we won't, Miss Smoak," Batman said to her, "Don't worry, Robin and I will bring her back. I promise. Right now, you need to rest."

"That's not acceptable," Felicity struggled to stand up from the gurney and hissed as sharp pain shot through her body. At the end, finally managed to get back on her feet. "I'm her mother. She needs me."

"I understand, Miss Smoak. But right now this is something you need to leave to me and my partner. Black Mask is a dangerous man and he'll shoot you the moment you walk through that building," Batman said sternly.

"I don't care!" She snapped, "I got her into this mess. I'm not going to let her die because of me. I'm responsible for everything that happened. Now I want to fix it."

"Don't listen to him, Felicity," Slade interrupted her, "He's not going to give Rachel back."

Felicity stared at Slade in confusion before looking at Batman. "What?"

"After he saves Rachel, he's taking her back to Child Protection Services and will have GCPD investigate her for the murder of her mother," Slade explained while glaring at Batman.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Felicity shouted, "You're saving her so you can take her away from me too?"

"Rachel Roth confessed to manslaughter, Miss Smoak," Batman lectured, "She's too dangerous to be let loose."

"So your answer is locking her away!?" she screamed angrily. "She's six! She's a child! She's my daughter!"

"I'm not locking her away, Miss Smoak. I just want make sure that what happened to her mother doesn't happen to you," Batman explained. "Imagine if what happened to her mother could happen to you? I can't risk that."

"But I can!" she snapped. "She's _my_ kid. I'm not letting you take her away from me!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Smoak but you no longer have the child's custody so you no longer have a say. I call the shots around here -" Batman stopped talking before stumbling forward and falling to the floor unconscious. Felicity and Slade were surprised to find a dart on his neck. Behind Batman was Damian holding a dart gun in his hand.

"Not today, Father," Damian smirked and tossed the dart gun away. "That should keep him out for a few hours."

"Thank you," Slade said gratefully. Felicity looked at him in surprise as if he knew the boy was going to shoot Batman.

"Is he dead?" she asked.

"It's simply a tranquilizer," Damian said, "Father made it to knock out people like Bane. He won't wake up until next morning." Luckily the butler was gone or he would try stop them as well. "Since Rachel Roth saved my life, I think I should return the favour by helping you save hers. You'll find Black Mask in the grim side of Gotham where all gang members and drug dealers meet up. If Black Mask is handing her over to Colton, we might not have a lot of time. Black Mask isn't a patient man. Most of his deliveries are immediate."

"What if Colton has her already?" Felicity asked worriedly.

"Pray that he doesn't," Damian said seriously. "If he does, interrogate Black Mask and make him tell you where Colton took Rachel even if it means cutting off his foot."

A bit gruesome to say but they understood what Damian meant.

Felicity thanked him for his help, even if it meant betraying his father. They didn't have much of a choice though.

"You might need this," Damian tossed her a bostaff and Felicity quickly caught it in her hand. It almost fell but she grasped it firmly. "Suit up."

* * *

Gül was lying in bed topless and kissing another woman beneath her, a Vietnamese named Jade. They met at the club Kitty Cornek where they flirted with each other for awhile, bought each other drinks and next thing they knew, they were in a motel room having sex while Grant was screwing another girl in the room nextdoor. It wasn't really hard to tell what he was doing. Gül could hear Grant grunting, the girl screaming and moaning, and the bed creaking loudly. It was like the walls were made of cardboard instead of wood or concrete.

"Are you going to kiss me or not?" Jade giggled.

Gül smiled before leaning down to kiss Jade on the lips once more while her hand massages the Vietnamese girl's breast and the other going right down her vagina. Jade moaned at the feeling of Gül's fingers inside of her and grabbed her dominant's left small breasts while brushing her hair back with the other.

A phone rang. Once. Twice. Thrice. And now it wouldn't stop ringing. It took a moment before Gül sat up groaning in annoyance. Worst timing ever.

She stood up from the bed, leaving Jade alone with a disappointed look on her face.

Gül answered the phone call. The number was anonymous. "Hello?"

" _Are you here in Gotham City yet?_ " A male voice asked through the phone. Gül recognized to be the voice of her employer Colton.

"Yes, and I was actually in the middle of something important," Gül said and winked at Jade who smiled back.

" _Listen, Black Mask just gave me the package just as we agreed on_ ," Colton said smoothly. For a second, Gül thought she heard something in the back but immediately brushed it off as background noise. " _You know what needs to be done_."

"I know," she smirked, "And we'll get right on it."

" _Good. Don't mess it up_."

"Okay, now I know you're just referring to my assie brother Grant. Don't worry, he won't do any damage as long as he follows orders," With that, she hung up the phone and return to bed with Jade. "I'm afraid we'll have to leave this for another time, love. Something's come up."

"Is everything okay?" Jade asked in concern.

"Don't worry. It's nothing serious," Gül assured her, "It's something I need to take care of. I'll see you later." Gül gave Jade one last kiss before heading for the bathroom to get changed.

* * *

Roman Sionis looked at himself in the mirror with the black skull mask now plastered to his face thanks to what Rachel did. That little bitch melted the mask to my face. He hoped Colton would break the kid even if he is after Felicity. He knew Colton wouldn't stay away from his fun with Rachel. Sionis hoped the kid will get what she deserves.

"You need a doctor, sir," Miss Li insisted but Sionis refused for the eight-hundredth time.

"No," he growled, "I wanted Slade to see this when he gets here. I want him to see what that little bitch did to me."

Miss Li nodded. "Very well."

Shooting was heard outside Sionis' office as well men yelling, cursing and screaming. They're here, Sionis thought.

"Li, get some drinks ready, I have a feeling this is going to be a long conversation," Sionis instructed. Of course, he didn't know how he was going to drink whiskey with the mask now melted to his face. He would have to have someone manufacture a slit on his mask in order to drink and eat. He sat down behind his desk with his leg crossed over his left knee.

The noises stopped and everything fell silent for a moment.

The doors to his office burst open and Deathstroke and Black Canary barged into the office, Deathstroke holding his sword and Black Canary holding a bo-staff. Sionis couldn't tell what Deathstroke was thinking but he could definitely tell by the look on Black Canary's face that they were mad as shit.

"It's payback time, Mask," Slade growled while twirling his sword around, the light shining off it.

" _Where_ is she?" Felicity snarled.

* * *

 **Starling City...**

Colton waiting by the docks when a black limousine pulled over nearby. Two men with guns came out dragging the child with them.

They stopped and pushed the little girl towards him. Colton noticed a bruise on her face. Black Mask must have hit her. He didn't care though as long as she remained alive for the time being. He thanked the men that brought her to him and told him to tell Sionis that he will show great gratitude for all the help and sacrifice he made.

He snatched Rachel harsh by the arm and growled in her ear. "We're going on a train ride together so behave or you'll never see your mother again." He then continued to drag her to his car.

* * *

 **End of Chapter 43**

 **Just four more chapters to go before the story is finished. Thank God .**

 **Comment below and tell me what you thought of this chapter.**


	44. Chapter 44: Ablaze (Part 2)

**Chapter 44: Ablaze (Part 2) is up. The Canary Cry (currently known as Black Smoak) is just a three chapters away from ending. And just to warn you guys, someone is going to die and it's not going to be pretty so I hope you guys brace yourselves for when the death scene at the comes.**

 **Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

Felicity and Slade were now confronting Roman Sionis after slaughtering his men outside in the halls, _clearly_ grotesque manslaughter.

"It's payback time, Mask," Slade growled gruffly as he twirled his katana around.

" _Where_ is she?" Felicity snarled viciously. She glared at both Black Mask and Miss Li, the bitch that brought Rachel to him in the first place.

"Your daughter? I had my men take her to Colton," Sionis chuckled and pointed at his trapped face. "She did _this_ to me. Your daughter is a freak."

"You're the freak, Mask," Slade growled. "Giving a child to a psychopath is a new level of low."

Sionis turned his attention to Miss Li. "Take care of the blonde bitch for me. I'll take care of Deathstroke." He stood from his chair and took out his gun.

Miss Li smirked before taking off her glasses. "Gladly, sir."

She charged at Felicity and tackled her out of the office to the floor like a football player. Sionis took out his gun and began to shoot at Slade. Slade, however, blocked the bullets with his sword and hid behind a bookcase.

Meanwhile Felicity kicks Miss Li on the chest to get her off and shrieks at her. Miss Li ended up crashing onto a wall and shattered a vase. Felicity charged at her yelling in anger but Miss Li moved aside and Felicity ended up crashing into the wall, her face bashing against it and busting her nose. "Ah," she cried out.

Miss Li grabbed Felicity by the roots of her hair and pulled her head back. "It's you Colton wants, honey," she hissed into Felicity's ears, "But once he's done with you, you're little brat is next."

Felicity growled in anger, her suddenly turning black just like Rachel's eyes, and forcefully elbowed her in the face before flipping her over her shoulder to the ground and continued to punch her in the face while Miss Li was yelling in pain. "You could have killed me! Torture me! He messed with my mind, my friends, and worst of all, you messed with my kid!" She hauled Miss Li from the floor. Miss Li was already bleeding from the mouth, nose and eyes. Felicity shook her. "Now you and your boss are going to pay and best of all, I'm going to enjoy it."

She threw Miss Li across the floor and the woman crashed through a door of glass.

* * *

Sionis continued shooting at Slade until he was out of bullets. While he searched for more bullets in the drawer, Slade took his chance and attacked him. Slade chopped off Sionis's hand in order to get the gun away from him. Sionis yelled as he watched blood pour out of hi severed wrist. Slade took advantage of the distraction and punched him in the gut, knowing that punching him in the face would prove to be inefficient with the metal skull mask plastered to his face. He punched him hard, almost enough to tear Sionis' guts apart.

Growling in fury, Sionis took out his combat knife and tried to stab Slade but the assassin grabbed Sionis' arm and pulled hard, dislocating the arm and making him let go of the knife.

Once that was done, he grabbed Sionis by the neck and lifted him up from the floor. "Now talk. Where is Rachel Roth?"

* * *

Miss Li slowly stood up from the floor from the shattered door, glass now stuck to her like spikes. Snarling, she grabbed one of the shards and lunged forwards. "Bitch!"

Felicity acted quickly. She grabbed Miss Li by the wrist and twisted it, cracking the wrist-bone. She kicked her in the chest before giving her a spinning hook kick on the head. Without Miss Li expecting it, Felicity struck Miss Li in the face with the end of the bostaff Damian gave her.

Miss Li stumbled back, already exhausted from the fight, until her back made contact with the glass windows.

Felicity approached her, her eyes still terrifyingly black. One end of the bo-staff was covered in blood. Miss Li was now scared. Felicity Smoak was crazy.

"The fuck are you?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Something you shouldn't have provoked," Felicity growled angrily.

"Please, don't killed me," Miss Li begged, "I'm sorry. I give up. You win."

"I'm not here to win. I'm here to take back what you assholes took from me," Felicity snarled.

"You don't kill, Felicity Smoak," Miss Li chuckled, "I know you. Everyone knows you. The kind of people you are. Morally-coded. You don't kill."

Felicity stared at her blankly for a moment before smirking. "No. You're wrong. I'm not Batman or the Arrow."

She let out the canary cry. Miss Li crashed through the window due to the frequency and screamed as she fell all the way down. Felicity waited until she heard a loud shattering sound and people screaming. Her eyes returned to their blueish colour and crept up to the window and looked down to see Miss Li's battered body smashed on top of a blue car, her body sprawled and eyes wide. Felicity smirked once more at the sight of the person who brought Rachel to Sionis now dead. _Serves her right_.

Felicity returned to the office to find Slade holding Sionis off the ground by the neck. Sionis struggled to break free but Slade was clearly stronger than he was. Felicity knew this from experience. She nearly cursed in surprise when she saw Slade had chopped Sionis' hand off. "Holy - wow, you really outdone yourself."

"Speak for yourself," Slade mocked, "If you think I didn't hear what happened out there? What happened to Miss Li?"

"I technically blew her out the window...with my screaming," she said awkwardly.

"Well done," Slade congratulated her proudly.

"You crazy bitch," Sionis yelled.

" _Bitch_ with Wi-Fi." Felicity still remained her old self. She kept her title as the Bitch with Wi-Fi, something she held with pride. "Now are you going to tell us where my daughter is or do you have to lose another hand. Or maybe a foot this time. Or how about your cock and then shove it down your throat -."

"Black Canary, stand down," Slade ordered in warning as he noticed her anger growing as the threats grew more lethal. He could easily let her tear Roman Sionis apart but they needed the information from him and they would never find Rachel if Felicity decided to cut him into pieces just to make him suffer. "Where is Rachel Roth? And don't try to lie. It's not worth your time."

"You think I know where that bastard took the kid?" Sionis grunted as he continued to struggle to break free.

"You were making negotiations with him so yeah, we do think you know where Colton is and where he took Rachel," Felicity said. "Now tell us where she is."

Sionis chuckled. "Colton was in Starling City. My men delivered the brat there."

"And where is he taking her from there?" Slade asked further.

"Where it all began," Sionis chuckled before he was suddenly shot in the chest twice.

Slade and Felicity both stared in shock before turning around to see who pulled the trigger. To their surprise, it was Gül and Grant. Slade dropped Sionis' dead body on the floor. What the fuck were those two doing here? What do they want now?

"Hey, Slade," Gül sneered, "It looks like I changed our meeting schedule."

"What do we do now?" Felicity whispered to Slade.

"You get my son," Slade instructed. "I'll deal with this girl."

Felicity nodded in agreement before charging at Slade's son. Grant did the same until they collided with each other. Felicity instantly felt she was hit by the truck that hit her and Slade earlier when she collided with Grant. She almost forgot he was on Mirakuru just like Slade. Grant slammed her hard to the floor with one hand and held a knife to her throat.

"Shit!" she screamed.

Slade was about to approach Grant but Gül aimed a gun at him. "Do you think I'm afraid of a gun?"

"If the gun didn't contain the Mirakuru cure, that is. Or a deadly poison that can kill an elephant. Then yeah, I'm guessing you should be afraid of a gun," Gül said with a proud smirk.

Slade simply stayed at the gun in her hands. He didn't know if she was bluffing or not but didn't want to take any chances. Gül had him at gunpoint and Grant had a knife on Felicity's throat. Not a good sign.

* * *

"Hey, I'm here in Starling City right now," Cisco said as he got off the train with a briefcase in his hand which contained information on Colton. He was going to Queens Consolidated and give it to Oliver, hoping that it could help them find him.

 _"Just be careful out there, Cisco,_ " Caitlin said through the phone, _"Colton Smoak, or Dream Warp as you call him, is unpredictable. He can be anywhere at anytime, watching us and waiting to make his next move."_

"Please don't try to scare me, Cait, because it's working," Cisco said nervously as he kept looking around for any suspicious activity. So far no signs of anything weird.

" _Just be careful, okay, Cisco,?_ "

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," he told her, "If I see anything, I'll let you know."

" _Okay, Cisco_."

"Bye." Cisco hung up the phone and continued walking through the train station, looking nervously at the crowd around him, walking up and down and back and forth. He really hated being in crowds, too many people, too many sounds at the same time and it made him feel claustrophobic. It was the reason why he would never go to concerts or wild college parties. He wasn't up for crowds.

He headed for the stand where he would purchase a ticket to return to Central City when he spotted Colton at the far end, also purchasing a train ticket but what shocked Cisco the most was that he wasn't alone.

"Rachel," Cisco gasped in shock.

Colton had her held by the wrist in a tight grasp and Cisco could see that she was terrified forthe way she was shaking and her eyes watering. Colton must have taken her. Cisco wasn't going to let him take her though.

"Hey!" Cisco yelled out, getting a few people's attention, including Colton and the security guard at the other side of the train station. "Hey! Somebody stop him! That's not his kid!"

"Cisco!" Rachel cried.

Colton took out a gun and shot the woman who sold him the ticket before he began to shoot at the crowd. Everyone ran and screamed like a stampede. Colton continued shooting. The security guard ran up to Colton to try stop him but Colton elbowed the guard in the face before shooting his head. Rachel screamed in horror. Colton tried to shoot Cisco as well but the boy quickly fucked under the bed.

As the next train arrived, Colton stopped shooting and hauled up Rachel in his arms. "Come on, you're much trouble than you're worth."

They went to the train where Colton shot at the roof and yelled for everyone to get out. More people ran and screamed.

Cisco hissed and groaned in pain as he rolled on his back, his hand putting pressure on his hip where one of the bullets hit him. He looked at his bloody hand. He knew he would need stitches for that.

He rolled out from under the bench and limped over to the train where Colton and Rachel we're. The doors were sliding close so Cisco limped faster until he finally reached the train and squeezed through the sliding doors into the train.

Colton smirked at Cisco. "So you decided to join us?"

Cisco grunted. He tried to hide the pain but he was also showing contorted expression. "You're not taking her."

"Nothing personal, kid," Colton chuckled as he held Rachel tighter. "Just family business."

"I think kidnapping a kid is beyond personal," Cisco said.

Colton chuckled onced more before putting Rachel down and hid her behind him.

"You want her, kid? Come and get her," Colton challenged him while putting away the gun.

Cisco charged at Colton with a punch. Of course, Colton grabbed the punch and kicked Cisco back in the chest.

Cisco fell to the floor but not without hitting the back of his head with the metal pole people use to hold on while the train moves when there were no more seats for the passengers. He looked at Rachel who stood there frozen in fear.

"Rachel get out of here," he told her, "Go."

Rachel did as told and turned to run. Colton reached out to grab her but Cisco kicked him at the ankles, knocking him down.

Cisco got up and made a run for it as well.

A gunshot was heard and Cisco instantly fell forward, yelling in pain as the back of his shoulder burned.

Rachel stopped in her tracks at the sound of the gun firing and turned around to see Colton grabbing him by the hair, pulling his head back, and pressing the barrel of the gun under his jaw.

"Take one more step, little girl, and I'll kill him," Colton threatened viciously.

"Don't listen to him," Cisco grunted, only to have his head yanked harder.

"You leave, I kill him," Colton said, "I know the things you can do. I know you can leave whenever you like. But you won't, not without me killing him. So what's it gonna be?"

Rachel stared at Cisco for a moment, debating on whether she should listen to Colton or him. She knew that if she left the train, Colton would kill him. There weren't many options. So she approached Colton and told him not to hurt Cisco.

Colton smiled at her. "Good girl," he said. He let go of Cisco's hair, allowing him to drop to the floor. Colton got up and headed for the conductor's cart where the driver would be. The conductor probably already alerted the authorities.

Rachel checked on Cisco who cried out when she touched his shoulder. He had a bullethole on the back of his shoulder and another one on his hip. He got shot twice and he was bleeding.

"Why didn't you leave?" Cisco groaned.

"I don't want you to die," she simply said.

"He's going to kill us both," he said.

"Felicity will save us," she said even if she wasn't so sure about it herself.

Colton was playing a dangerous game with Felicity and they were getting caught in the middle. Rachel really hoped Felicity and Slade would find them soon wherever they were going. Cisco then covered her ears when gunshots were heard, indicating that Colton shot the conductor.

* * *

"Why did you kill Black Mask?" Slade asked, his eye narrowing.

Gül remained aiming her gun at him while Grant had Felicity trapped in a headlock after hauling her off the floor, holding a knife to her neck. She could still scream but not without having her throat slit in the process.

"He already did his part, Slade," Gül said. "I'm doing mine."

"I'm guessing you're working for Colton then," Slade figured out. It was no coincidence that Gül and Grant would just barge in and kill Roman Sionis. Slade knew that Sionis making negotiations with Colton would bring consequences.

"You hit the nail on the head," Gül smirked, "Of course, Colton already paid me to kill Black Mask as soon as he got the delivery."

"Delivery?"

"She knows about Rachel, Slade," Felicity said but Grant pressed the knife to her throat harder.

"You should know better than working with a mad man-."

"Don't give me any of that morality bullshit," Gül hissed as she pulled the safety cap on the gun. "You're just as bad as us. A murderer. You killed more people than anyone else. Don't tell me you never thought of killing her," she pointed the gun at Felicity, "Or the little brat who crashed our car. You have been thinking of killing them both. The first time you had sex with Miss Smoak, did you think of strangling her or slashing her throat during climax. I bet you did before you realized you couldn't get enough. Adeline. Shado. You lost two women you loved most. What happens if I make your precious Black Canary the third?"

Slade roared in anger and attacked Gül, pushing her to the wall and smashing the gun out her hand. It fired but the bullet hit the ceiling.

Felicity grabbed Grant by the wrist, the one holding the knife, and elbowed him in the didn't work much though since he had Mirakuru in his veins. A blow like that would have knocked the wind right out of a normal person but it's Mirakuru. Grant probably thought it tickled.

Grant took out a combat knife, swinging it at her but Felicity screamed at him which sent him back. Grant crashed through a wall. He didn't get up. He was unconscious.

Slade had Gül pinned to the wall. Even with Mirakuru, Slade was stronger than her. He had no experience than this girl.

Gül laughed like a crazy person. "You people are so dead, especially you Slade Wilson. You're number 1 on my list."

"Why are you doing this?" Slade asked her. "Is it to torture me? Because if it is then there's no reason for you to hurt them. I'm already here."

"I expected our meeting to be less violent," she laughed, "I'm already torturing you. I just shot your only lead into finding the kid and now you're pinning me against the wall ready to crush my head into pieces if I don't talk. You're desperate. You care for that kid just as you care for this bitch. You're afraid of failing her just like you failed Adeline and that other girl."

Slade slammed her against the wall harder and she yelled but continued laughing.

"Slade, wait," Felicity stopped him, putting a hand to his chest. "If she knows where Rachel is, I don't think it's ideal to kill her just yet. Tell us what you know and I'll consider not letting Slade crush your head like a melon."

"Don't kid yourself, blondie," Gül chuckled, "You father has been very specific with us. Do the job, no questions asked. I don't know where Colton is —."

"But Black Mask did," Slade snarled, "And you killed him just so he wouldn't say anything —."

"That bastard didn't know anything either," Gül snarled.

"Then what did Black Mask meant _where it all began_?" Slade asked, "What does it mean?"

"Do you think I know shit about riddles, Slade?" Gül growled viciously before eyeing at Felicity. "What about you, Felicity? I bet you can figure it out since the message is meant for you. What do you think he meant by it?"

Felicity stared at Gül, thinking very hard on what she's telling. Her eyes widened again before looking at Slade. "I think I know where he's taking Rachel. We have to go, Slade. Now."

Slade had already been thinking of killing Gül after this. But after what happened in Gotham City with Blake Taylor, Slade resisted, not wanting to put anymore darkness than she already had.

He grabbed Gül by the arm and dragged her to Sionis' chair behind the desk and handcuffed her to the armrests of the chair.

"We're leaving you here for the cops to find," Slade said, "And I don't think I need to worry Grant since he's not going anywhere either."

"So you're just going to abandon your son just like that," Gül stated with a chuckle, "Typical of a father."

Slade ignored her as he took Felicity by the wrist and were walking out of Sionis'office.

"That's what you always do, don't you!?" Gül yelled out, "Abandon your kids. How many people are you going to abandon, Slade!? How many!? Adeline! Shado! Grant! Joseph! Wintergreen!...Me!"

Slade stopped for a moment. _Her?_ He looked at Felicity who was looking at him bewilderment. He returned to the office, staring at the smirking female assassin. "Who are you?"

Gül smirked in amusement. "Do you remember my mother? You met her in Istanbul, years after your divorce with Adeline Kane. Do you even know what my name means in Turkish?" she asked rhetorically. Slade still didn't understand what she was saying. He didn't remember going to Istanbul after his divorce with Adeline. "My name is Rose. And I'm your daughter."

Slade's dark eye widened when he said that. Daughter?

Before Slade could approach her to ask her anymore questions, Gül kicked at the edge of the desk, pushing the chair back.

"No!" Slade yelled but Gül already crashed through the window and fell down the building.

He ran up to the window and looked down, expecting to find a dead body. There was glass and Sionis' chair on the sidewalk. But there was no body. Gül was gone. She simply disappeared.

"She's gone," he muttered.

"Slade." He turned around. Felicity looked desperate to find Rachel before it's too. Slade now felt he was wasting his time. "Please. We have to go."

Slade nodded in agreement and they both left the office in a hurry.

Felicity knew where Colton was taking Rachel _. Where it all began_. Colton was taking Rachel home. Felicity's home. In Nevada. Where Evelyn Smoak, Felicity's mother, died.

* * *

Felicity and Slade were driving out of Gotham City when Felicity's phone rang. Oliver's name was on the screen. She attempted to ignore it but Oliver and Diggle were the only ones that could help her. They needed all the help they could get.

"Felicity, we have a problem," Oliver said through the phone.

"I know," she said, "Colton has Rachel and they're going to Nevada."

"That's not all, Felicity," Oliver informed her, "There was a shooting at the train station. Colton was involved. Someone realized Rachel was kidnapped and tried to stop him but he started shooting at everyone. He killed the ticket seller, the security guard and anyone else that got in the way."

"You got that all on security footage?" Felicity asked.

"Detective Lance sent them to me a while ago. I thought you should know." Felicity put Oliver on speaker for Slade to hear. "That train is heading for Nevada."

"I know. That's where I used to live as a kid," Felicity said, "It's where my mom died. Thanks, Ollie, you've been a big help."

"There's something else you need to know," Oliver said, "The person who called out on Colton chased after them. He tried to get Rachel out of there but no one came out of the train and the train left Starling City... Felicity, it was Cisco."

Felicity and Slade looked at each other. _Oh no_.

* * *

 **Las Vegas, Nevada**

 **9 hours later...**

The train didn't make it to the station. Instead, it stopped midway. Colton, Rachel and Cisco got off it, with Colton pulling an injured Cisco by the arm while pointing the gun at him. He couldn't grab Rachel since his hands were occupied but he didn't think it was necessary to keep her from running away. If she ran off, Colton would shoot Cisco. As long as he had Cisco, Rachel would follow orders.

They walked through a deserted field of dirt and dead grass until they made it to a road.

"Where are you taking us?" Cisco groaned in pain. He was still bleeding badly. He had to tear a piece of his shirt and kept pressure on it for as long as he could but blood would still seep through the torn cloths.

"I'm taking you two home with me," Colton said.

"He needs a doctor," Rachel pointed out as she kept looking back at the trail of blood they were leaving behind. Someone would find the trail and find them. At least, that's what she hoped.

Suddenly a car was approaching, a yellow Pinto car and there was a middle-aged man behind the wheel.

Colton put his gun away, hiding it in the back of his pants, and waved for the driver to stop.

To the kids misfortune, the driver stopped the car and got out.

"My son needs help," Colton said, acting worried, as he brought up Cisco. "We had an accident back there. He needs a doctor. Can you help him?"

"Sure," the driver said. He helped Colton carry Cisco into the backseat of the car where he laid there groaning in pain. Rachel was hesitant on entering the car, knowing that something bad would happen, but immediately complied when Colton gave her a warning look and got into the passenger's seat with Cisco.

"What happened?" the driver asked in concern when he saw the blood.

"I shot him," Colton said darkly.

"What?"

Instead of answering, Colton shot the driver dead and Cisco and Rachel screamed.

* * *

 **Sorry if this part wasn't the best.**

 **Reviews are appreciated.**

 **Thanks to everyone that followed this story. You guys are fantastic.**


	45. Chapter 45: Ablaze (Part 3)

**Las Vegas, Nevada...**

 **10 hours later...**

* * *

"How can you be so sure Colton is taking them to Nevada?" Slade asked.

They were boarding the next train to Las Vegas, Felicity's hometown. They were wearing civilian clothes to avoid drawing attention but they had their suits in a duffle bag. Felicity was even lucky that the bo-staff Damian gave her was foldable.

"Because that's the place I was born," she explained, "Where it all began. My mother's rape and death."

Slade looked at her worriedly. He could see the bags under her eyes, the paleness of her face and the unshed tear. She looked like she was about to burst in any second.

"Are you a'right?" he asked.

Felicity looks at him glumly. "Colton has Rachel and Cisco, and they're going to die because of me. So I am not all right. At all."

"You didn't know something like this would happened -."

"But I should have seen it coming," she interrupts him harshly, "And now I brought them into this mess."

"And we'll get them out of it," Slade assured her, placing his hand on her shoulder and kissing her head.

He really hoped they weren't too late to save them, especially Cisco. Slade was really worried about him. He felt like he was responsible for that kid. He already lost too many. Adeline. Shado. Joseph. Grant. Now he was afraid that if he loses Cisco and Rachel, he would lose Felicity as well. Probably not physically but she's not behaving like her usual self. Her mind continued to keep coming and going with each shit situation. He feared that this time, she might lose herself in anger and grief. He wasn't really willing to risk it.

The train suddenly began to slow down. The conductor spoke through the speakers. " _Sorry folks, we have a minor situation. It looks like we have another train blocking our way_."

After looking at each other and thinking the same thing, they ran up to frontal cart of their train and they look out the window. There was literally another train stopped in front of them. And it looked empty.

Slade nearly ripped the doors away as he pushed them aside. They weren't supposed to leave the train but they didn't care what the conductor would say to them.

They went to the next train. Just as they thought, it was empty. There were no passengers on the train. No Colton. No Rachel. No Cisco.

"Rachel!" Felicity called out. No answer.

"Cisco!" Slade called. Neither answered. "They're not here."

"They have to be," Felicity climbed up to the train and Slade followed. "This is the train Oliver mentioned."

They continued checking through the train. They found a trail of blood on the floor. They didn't know if the blood belonged to either Cisco or Rachel. Felicity didn't want to find out though.

Felicity and Slade headed over to the control cart where the conductor would be, if there was any conductor left. When they entered the control cart, they found an African-American man lying on the floor with blood pooled on the back of his skull and a hole on his left temple. Colton killed the conductor.

"Shit," Felicity cursed.

"Something tells me Colton got them off the train. He wasn't waiting to arrive to the station," Slade said.

Felicity scratched the back of her head, trying to think what to do next. Colton couldn't have gone that far if he was taking the kids back to the house. He could have taken a car or something. She looked a the trail of blood on the floor and followed it to one of the sliding doors that were nearly closed. "I think they went this way, Slade."

Slade walked up behind her. "Are you sure?"

Felicity pushed open the sliding doors, letting in the cold breeze. The trail of blood led to an open dirt field and ahead. "I'm sure. We need to follow it."

"What makes you think Colton won't kill them both as soon as he hears us coming?" Slade questions. He was concerned with Felicity's tactics. They weren't really planned out. She was simply jumping in through instinct.

They followed the trail of blood through the dirt field. There were no signs of Colton or the kids but the trail just kept going until the finally reached the edge of the road where there was more blood. A significant amount of it.

"Someone's been shot here," Slade pointed out as he kneeled next to it.

"How do you know?" Felicity asked.

"There are small splatters here and there, and it looks fresh," Slade informed her, "If Colton wanted to get the kids to your home faster, what better way than to highjack someone else's car. And that's exactly what he did."

"But there's no body."

"Unless Colton took the body in order to avoid leaving evidence," Slade guessed.

Felicity sighed. "Okay, let's do that then."

"Hijack a car?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "but without shooting someone."

"Well, I don't know if you haven't been paying attention, love but there are no cars around here," Slade said as he stood up from the road.

"This is Las Vegas, Slade," Felicity pointed out, "Cars come and go all the time, even through deserted areas. In fact, here comes one right now."

Felicity was right about the whole cars coming and going in Las Vegas. There was one coming their way, with the headlights shining bright.

"How do we get him to stop?" Felicity asked.

Slade smirked at her in amusement. "Do what you do best. Scream."

Nodding, Felicity obeyed and stood in the middle of the road. As the car approached, Felicity screamed at the road ahead of her, making it crack and break. Just as the car neared, she jumped out of the way and the car drove over the heavy crack before it began to lose control. Both heard a tire pop and the car swayed sideways before it stopped with a loud screech of the remaining tires.

A man with blonde hair and in a beige trench coat and red tie barged out of the car and started yelling at both Felicity and Slade in a British accent as he approached them. "Oy, are you bloody kidding me!? Do you know how much this car cost?"

"A yellow Ford Pinto you stole from New Orleans isn't worth that much if it has been discontinued since the 80's," Slade informed the angry man, "And how do I know this? The name of the state can clearly be seen on the license plate."

"This car is worth more than thousands of dollars, you Aussie twit!" the man snapped.

Slade sighed and turned away. "Felicity, do something before I decide to kill him."

"We need your car please," Felicity asked almost pleadingly, "It's an emergency."

The man looked up and down at her. "Well, I might do anything for you, deary. What's in it for me?"

Felicity simply rolled her eyes. _We don't have time for this_. She let out the canary cry and the man fell back unconscious. Slade helped her drag the man to the side of the road to keep him from getting run over by any cars that might appear.

They got into the car, with Slade behind the wheel, and they drove away.

* * *

The man that Felicity knocked out with her canary cry got up and brushed off dirt from the sleeves of his trench coat. He watched as the couple drove away with the Ford Pinto he clearly stole from New Orleans. "Just bloody great."

He took out his phone and dialed a specific number before putting the phone to his ear. "Hello? Z? You there?...Yeah, it's me John...Listen, I just got hijacked...You think you can pick me up?...I'm in Las Vegas...No, I'm not stalking you. I'm looking for a friend, remember?...Could you just please pick me up, Z? Before I get eaten by coyotes?...Yeah...Yeah, I'll wait here. Thanks."

John hung up the phone before putting it back into his pocket. "That Z is just as dangerous as she is pretty."

* * *

They drove down the road. Slade was driving. Felicity was getting dressed in the Black Canary suit. Slade would be dressing if he wasn't behind the wheel. He noticed that her hands were shaking as she was putting the gloves on.

"I understand if you're worried," he said.

"I'm not worried," she said, "...I'm terrified. Not just because I'm going to confront my father but because I'm afraid I'm going to lose my daughter."

"And you won't," Slade assured her.

She shook her head. "You don't know that."

"It won't hurt trying then," he said.

"I do know this. If she dies, or if Cisco dies, I will never forgive myself," she said. "...Balzar Avenue. That's where I used to live when I was a child. It was one of the dangerous places in Las Vegas. My mom use at a strip club. She was the dancer. Aunt Donna was a cocktail waitress. I think it was Spearmint Rhino. I don't know what my dad did for a living, I didn't even care to know. My mom worked hard to give me the life I needed even though she never thought it was enough. In the past time, a dollar can mean 20 dollars. My mom danced until her heels went sore just buy food or pay for my school. Every week she brought me a lollipop. You know, one of those big rainbow swirl lollipops."

Slade chuckled. "The good old days."

"My mom worked her ass off to make sure I was okay, and now she's dead because of me," Felicity said sorrowfully, "Before going to Donna's after school, I used to ride my bike over to my old house where my mom died, sometimes wished I was the one lying dead on the floor instead of her. Sometimes I even wondered why I was worth saving. What was the point of her doing all the things for me."

"Just like many mothers, they always see something special in their children. Your mother saw something special in you," Slade said, "Saw something worth dying for."

"Like what?" she asked.

"A reason why I would do the same in her position," he pointed out, "Despite all the things, you still remain a kind-hearted person. You know the risks and yet you take it no matter what they throw at you. You don't care how much you get hurt as long as the other person is okay. And you know when you see good in people and you know when you see bad in people. You probably saw evil in your father before you even knew it."

"So you're saying I might be psychic or something?" Felicity asked.

"Could be," he said, "You did see the better in me despite the things I did -."

"Because you really are a good man despite all the things, Slade. You have a good heart which you kept hidden through the pain. But you were able to break free -."

"I wouldn't have been able to break free if it wasn't for you, love," he said. "Using words that run through like a blade."

"...Doubt my words will get me out of this one, Slade," she said, "As much as I'm scared shitless, I have to do this. It's time for me to face my demons once and for all. We're here."

The car was heading to the end of Balzar Avenue to a beaten down house with boarded up windows and the aluminum awning on the balcony tipped to the side and greenery growing upon the wall. It was Felicity's old home. Slade turned off the headlights as he slowed the car down and stopped it.

Felicity swallowed the lump on her front before getting out of the car. Slade followed afterwards.

"Aren't you going to put on your suit?" she asked.

"I don't think we have enough time for that," he said.

They climbed up to the balcony to the front door. The door was red like blood. Felicity pressed her hand to the door to check if it was open or closed. It slowly creaked open. Like _that_ wasn't creepy enough.

They stepped into the house. It looked like exactly how it was left the night Felicity's mother died. The walls, the floors and the staircase to the second floor looked dusty. It looked like no one stepped foot in here for years. There wasn't even a For Sales sign on the front yard. Felicity couldn't blame the. Who would have wanted to buy a where a suicide/murder occurred 20 years ago.

"This brings back memories," Felicity whispered to herself. A shiver crept up her spine and shuddered nervously. "They have to be here somewhere. Where's the car?"

"My guess is that Colton got rid of it before coming here with the kids," Slade said as Felicity walked over to the kitchen where she found her mother with her wrists slit. "I'll go check on the living room -."

"No need," she said in shock, "I found them."

Slade walked over to the kitchen just as Felicity did. There they were. Cisco and Rachel. They were both lying on the kitchen table unconscious. Cisco's hand was holding Rachel's tightly. They both were wearing some sort of wired headgear and looked like they were wired to each other.

Felicity and Slade quickly approached them. They shook the kids, trying to wake them up.

"Cisco?" Felicity whispered to him as she shook him gently. "Cisco." He wouldn't wake up. So she went to Rachel's side and shook her. "Rachel? Rachel, wake up. Honey. Wake up, please."

Slade went to Cisco's side and shook him. "Cisco." None of them were waking up from their slumber. "They're not waking up. They're in some kind of trance."

"Colton must have knocked them out somehow," Felicity said, "Anesthetics. Chloroform."

"But where's Colton?" Slade asked, looking around. He wasn't around.

"Hiding, probably," Felicity said. "He's somewhere in this house, hiding while invading their dreams. He's in their head, tormenting them. They might never wake up if we don't stop him."

"We find him and we kill him," Slade suggested, "Killing him might get them out of their sleep -."

"Or it might leave them in a permanent coma and who knows if he might stay in their subconscious forever," she said, "Cisco said that the only way to kill him without his subconscious getting into other people's mind is to wake him up. Fully awake. Do you have the duffle bag with you?"

Slade lifted the bag in his hand. "What the hell do you think this is?"

Felicity snatched the bag in her hand and opened. Too many things in the bag. Curse Slade and his armour. She finally was able to find what she needed. A syringe full of clear liquid.

Slade frowned when he saw the syringe in her hand. He never saw it before nor did he remember putting it in the duffle bag. "What is that?"

"Anesthesia," she explained, "Damian gave it to me before we left."

"What are you planning to do with it?" he asked.

"What do you think? I'm going in there. I'm putting myself to sleep," she said.

Slade shook his head in disbelief. "There has to be another way. There's no telling if it will work."

"There _is_ no other way," she said sternly, "It's the _only_ way."

"If you go in there, you'll never wake up," he warned her.

"And neither will them!" she snapped at him, "This is my fault, Slade! My responsibility. Too many people died because of me. I'm not letting anyone else die tonight -."

"I lost my family, Felicity! I'm not losing you too!" Slade snapped at her in return. Felicity simply stared at Slade. She understood why Slade was acting like this. He already lost so much. If he lost her, it would certainly break his soul and there was no telling if he would find someone else to blame if she died. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too, Slade," she said, tears welling up in her eyes, "But I love Rachel more. A mother, a real one, must always put their child first before anything else. My mother chose me before anything else. And I'm prepared to do the same thing for her and for Cisco. And if I die, you will kill Colton, you will take them home and you will be Rachel's father. And no matter, you will remind yourself that it's not their fault. It was my choice."

"How can you ask me -?"

"I'm not asking you," she whispered sternly, "I'm telling you." She then kissed him deeply. "Goodbye."

She stabbed herself in the thigh with the needle and pushed the plunger, the anesthesia now entering her bloodstream. Her eyes fluttered closed and she swayed sideways slightly before falling back. Slade caught her before she could hit the floor and laid her down gently.

Since there was no space on the kitchen table, Slade had to bring in the dusty couch from the living, placed it next to the kitchen table and laid here there. He then took a few wires that were stuck to Rachel's head and connected them to Felicity's forehead. Slade hoped she knows what she's doing.

Now all he needed to do was find Colton. He was in the house somewhere, hiding. _Where?_ He needed to find the son of bitch and fast, before he kills Felicity, Cisco and Rachel. _Let's get started_.

* * *

Felicity sat up from wherever she was lying on. She looked around herself. She was in a cemetery, similar to the one in her previous dreams. That didn't surprise her though. The tombs had the same names carved on the gravestones. Oliver Jonas Queen. Slade Joseph Wilson. Sara Lance. Dinah Laurel Lance. Caitlin Snow. Francisco 'Cisco' Ramon. Evelyn Smoak. Donna Smoak. Michael Smoak. Damian Wayne. Rachel Angela Roth. Isabel Rochev..."Okay, you I don't give a shit about," she said. Basically, it's everyone Felicity cared about. Colton was working on her already.

"I'm not falling for this shit again," she said.

A hand shot up from Isabel's grave and grabbed her by the ankle. Isabel was pulling herself out of the grave, her eyes cloudy, skin grey and rotting, hair coarse and snarling at Felicity.

Felicity shook her head. "Hell no. Fuck off, bitch." She kicked Isabel beneath the jaw and the living corpse fell back into the grave. "I think it'd be a good idea to get out of here." She made a run for it towards the forest before anything else start popping out of those graves.

Only, she stopped and was no longer in the cemetery. Instead, she was in the kitchen of her own home but in broad daylight. There was no Rachel. No Cisco. No Slade. The kitchen looked exactly how it was 20 years ago before it was abandoned after Evelyn's death. _What the hell am I doing here?_

"Felicity."

She turned around, finding herself face to face with another corpse with the same grey crack skin and cloudy eyes but the coarse hair was blonde and had slits on the wrist. "Mom."

* * *

 **Let's hope Felicity doesn't fall for this trick this time.**

 **Part 4 will come soon.**

 **Who do you think will die at the end? Felicity? Cisco? Or Rachel?**

 **Let me know in the comments.**


	46. Chapter 46: Ablaze (Part 4)

**Wow guys, I just realized something while reading chapter 6 and 7 of _The Canary Cry_ , those two chapters were a piece of shit. I think I might rewrite those two chapters. **

**Well, it's show time. Felicity is now in the dream world and Slade is looking for Colton in the house. A funeral will come at the epilogue but whose funeral is it? Who will die? Felicity? Cisco? Rachel? Or all three?**

* * *

Rachel was curled up in a corner of a completely white room, trapped in a straight jacket and lightly banging her head against the wall. _It's not real. It's just a dream_. She kept thinking to herself as she continued to hit herself against the wall. _Felicity is coming_. She kept looking around. Cisco. _Where is Cisco?_

"Cisco," she called out meekly. "Cisco!"

No one answered, of course. Colton had Cisco and took him to god-knows-where. Maybe he was dead but Rachel tried not to think that.

She could hear voices coming from outside the room she was trapped in. It was from a barred door, making the room look like a prison cell. "The thing is talking again," one of them said.

"What thing?" the other asked.

"That thing in the cell, that looks like a little kid..."

"You mean that monster from hell?..."

"Yeah. The monster that killed the woman in Crime Alley at Gotham..."

Rachel simply sobbed. She didn't mean to kill her mother. She made her do it.

"Why is she here again...?"

"The city wants us to cure her..."

"But she's not curable. So what happens then?..."

"We kill her and make it look like a treatment gone wrong..."

Rachel's eyes widened as soon as that's said and the door flew open. A doctor entered the room wearing a dark robe and a leather bird mask and holding a large needle full of red liquid. She screamed: _"Nokito nomun visoris!"_

* * *

Cisco sat up from the wooden floor, even though he remembered quite clearly that he was lying on the kitchen table in an abandoned home. Now he was lying on the floor in the living room of his house, wondering how he got here in the first place.

He was possibly in the dream world. Colton must have put him to sleep. But he also remembered Colton putting Rachel to sleep as well. But where was she?

"Rachel?"

There was no answer.

Cisco slowly got up from the floor and began to pace around the living room. It looked like daytime outside. Ah man, this reminds me of _Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors_ but in real life and that movie fucking sucks.

"You fucking retarded bastard!" Cisco was suddenly struck in the head with leather material and fell to floor crying out in pain. He looked up to see his father holding the belt he used to hit Cisco and Dante with. Of course, the belt had small spikes on it. "You're nothing but a shame to our family!" The father continued to strike at Cisco with the spiked belt. Cisco brought up his arm to protect his face from being struck, the skin of his forearm being grazed by the spikes and drawing blood. "Why can't you be like Dante!? Why can't you be like Dante!?"

"Stop!" Cisco cried.

"Why can't you be like Dante!?" His father continued screaming.

In the real world, Slade noticed Cisco shaking and convulsing slightly. If he wanted to find Colton, he would need to do it fast. He took out his sword and left the kitchen.

He searched the living room, the bedrooms, and the bathrooms. There was no one. It was like he just vanished. He returned to the kitchen to keep an eye on the kids and Felicity.

Slade took a closer look at the wires on Cisco's head. He noticed that the wires led down and across the floor, leading out of the kitchen to the hallway. Those wires could possibly lead to Colton. He'd just have to follow the wires.

* * *

"You're not my mom," Felicity said as she continued looking at the thing that looked like her mother Evelyn Smoak. But it wasn't. It was Colton manipulating her dreams. He was working on her already. "My mother is dead."

"Only because you killed me," Fake Evelyn said in a dark tone, showing her slit wrists now pouring out black disgusting liquid. "You did this to me."

Felicity shook her head. "No, my mother is dead. And it wasn't my fault. _You_ killed her...I remember now."

Felicity was climbing downstairs that night to the kitchen when she heard a noise. It sounded like someone was struggling and yelling. She went to the kitchen, only to find her mother standing in the kitchen with her wrists slit and a stab wound on her chest and the kitchen knife in her hand. She then saw her father leave through the backyard door. Of course, her small mind didn't process it well and called 9-1-1, telling that her mother killed herself. Of course, that wasn't the case. Her mother didn't kill herself. It was Colton. He made it look like a suicide but it was actually a homicide.

"You son of a bitch," she growled. "You really did kill her. You did this."

Fake Evelyn grinned, exposing dirty wooden-like teeth. "It's about time someone figured it out."

"How could I have been so stupid?" she said.

"You saw Colton leave, Felicity," Fake Evelyn kept saying, "You saw what he did to me and yet you told the doctors that I killed myself. You're such a disappointment."

Felicity buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Fake Evelyn grinned in belief that she finally broke her. Of course, the smile fell when Felicity suddenly chuckled and burst into laugher. She looked at Fake Evelyn and laughed hysterically like a madwoman.

"You asshole, I already knew that it was you all along!" she laughed. "I'm not that fucking stupid. I was just waiting for the moment for you to admit. Now that you did, it makes it easier for me to kill you."

She let out the canary cry and Fake Evelyn crashed through the kitchen window out of the house.

Felicity jumped out of the window in order to follow Colton. Of course, once she did so, she found herself in a black empty space instead of the front yard of her house. And Colton was nowhere to be found. The only thing she found was a full-sized mirror in front of her. However, instead of showing her reflection, it was showing a long white corridor with white doors at either side. _What the fuck?_

She was grabbed by the hair and had her head yanked back. Felicity looked over her shoulder. Laurel.

"I was supposed to be the next Black Canary, not you," she snarled, "I'm her sister. You don't deserve to carry out her mantle."

"You really don't know my friends that well, don't you?" Felicity chuckled before elbowing Fake Laurel in the mouth. "You should have hung around them more often if you wanted to trick me."

"And do you really think Laurel doesn't feel that way?" Fake Laurel said. "She doesn't show it much but you can see it in her eyes. She always thought that _she_ should have taken the mantle of the Black Canary, not you."

"Laurel never told me," Felicity said. Now that she thought about it, Laurel never said anything of what she wanted, like her opinions were invalid or someone. It wasn't like Felicity wouldn't give it to her. Laurel was Sara's sister. She had the right to say if she wanted the mantle of the Black Canary or not. But Felicity didn't ask Laurel if she wanted the mantle. Felicity simply took it by instinct, which was one of her mistakes. She should have asked Laurel first."If she wanted the mantle, I would have given it to her without thinking twice."

"Well, thanks to you, she never got the chance," Fake Laurel gave her a malicious grin, "because of you, she'll never get to avenge her baby sister Sara. You took that from her...But I think you have other things to worry about."

Felicity could hear a faint cry through the mirror and turned to face it. A child's cry. It was Rachel and she sounded like she was in danger.

"Rachel or me!" Fake Laurel snapped and kicked Felicity in the small of her back, pushing her through the mirror and into the white corridor.

She laid there on the floor, shaking and groaning in pain as some of the shards of the mirror penetrated through her flesh. And some were large shards. She took out each of the shards with hard yanks. She hoped none of them cut through a mayor vein or a vital organ. Afterwards, she got up and continued running through the corridor following Rachel's cry. She would check each door, only to find it empty. _Where are you?_

* * *

" _Nokito nomun visoris!_ " Rachel screamed and the scary doctor with the leather bird mask evaporated into the air. She thought of it weird. The spell was meant to reveal the doctor in its true form, not evaporate him. Unless it was just an illusion which would justify the reason for the doctor to evaporate. It wasn't real.

That's when she realized she was asleep. It was all a dream. She remembered lying next to Cisco and being put to sleep by Colton. It was Colton messing with her head. But where was Cisco? Where did Colton take him?

Rachel struggled to get out of the straitjacket but it wouldn't budge. It was too strapped tight and she didn't have any magic well in the dream world. She was powerless.

The white walls suddenly begin to turn black and grimy. The cellar-like door melted into the ground. And it began to rain a heavy downpour. Rachel found herself in the alleyway where she was forced to kill her mother. She missed her mother and that's why she hated being in this place. She wanted to leave and go home but not while restrained. No powers. No Escape. The only thing she could do is wait. And the only thing that could help her is deep inside her mind but she was too afraid of going deep inside her mind because she knew that what was inside was Despicable and deadly. She promised herself she would never open that part of her mind but if things don't go well she would have to force herself to open that part of her mind even if it meant losing herself.

Something began crawl out from a dark puddle in front of her. First, it looks like a hand or a claw and then a body cloaked in black. When the figure looked up, Rachel realized she was looking at the face of her mother Angela.

"Mama," Rachel said. Of course, that wasn't her real mother. That was just an illusion created by Colton to mess with her mind just like he messed with Felicity's mind but even an illusion can kill you. And now ironically, her mother was going to kill her. Angela reached out to Rachel, hissing and growling, trying to reach towards her and Rachel screamed.

Another scream was heard and Angela suddenly blew up into bits. She basically dispersed into confetti. Behind what was left of Angela was Felicity. Of course, Rachel didn't know whether to believe Felicity was real or it was just another illusion. But the Sonic scream was real. Felicity quickly ran up to Rachel and embraced her tightly.

"Oh thank God," Felicity sighed in relief.

Rachel cried when she realized it was really Felicity. "Mama."

Felicity quickly unstrapped her from the infernal contraption that was keeping her restrained. It too a while before Felicity finally broke the thing loose and slipped off Rachel. Now free from the straitjacket, Rachel threw herself onto Felicity, wrapping her arms around her neck as she sobbed.

"I want to go home!" Rachel cried.

"We're going home," Felicity assured her. "Where's Cisco?"

Rachel didn't know where Cisco was but she could sense him. He was somewhere around. She could feel it. He was in danger. He was scared. And his heart was going too fast. "He's here. Somewhere."

"Then let's go find him," Felicity as they both stood from the ground.

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologized.

Felicity frowned at her as if she didn't know what she was talking about. "For what?"

"For being bad," she said.

Felicity shook her head and kneeled to embrace Rachel once more. "You're not bad, Rachel. You were never bad."

"I killed my mother," she reminded her.

"I don't care," Felicity said, shaking her slightly, "Even if we've been together for awhile, I know that you would never hurt anyone on purpose. You're a good girl, I know you are." She proceeded to wipe off the tears from Rachel's pale cheeks. "Once we get Cisco, we're going home. We'll go back to Starling City and I will never let anyone hurt you again. I'm going to fight for you because I'm your mother. Slade will be your father. Oliver and Diggle will be your uncles. And Cisco will be your big brother. We're going to be a family and a happy one, okay?"

Rachel sniffled. "Promise?"

Felicity nodded and hugged her again. "I promise. I'm not leaving you again. Now let's go. We have to find Cisco and get out of here. Okay?"

Rachel nodded in agreement. Felicity took her hand and they both ran through the alleyway, the buildings at either side of them becoming lower and lower and less brick-looking, and the ground was becoming more earthy and covered in leaves. The entire place was jumbled up more than a freaking Rubik's cube. Wherever they went, the places would turn into something else entirely. It was getting crazy. Colton was trying to drive them nuts.

They needed to find Cisco so they could get out of here and fast.

* * *

Back at the house, while the others remained deep asleep, Slade followed the wires that were connected to their heads. He followed them to the hallway where it went past the staircase to a door just turning to the right. The door was closed but the wires led to it and Slade could see the wires going through a small thin space beneath the door. It must lead to the basement and possibly to Colton.

Slade kicked the door down and it busted open, crashing down a flight of steps. Unfortunately, Slade was met with a shotgun and got hit in the chest.

He fell to the floor from the force of the blast. Luckily, the Mirakuru wouldn't let the bullet pierce through his flesh. It only sunk an inch. He dug the bullet out and got up from the floor. Son of a bitch, I'm going to kill him. Slade had his sword ready just in case he was met with more surprises.

He slowly walked downstairs, the old wooden steps creaking beneath his feet. He noticed a glowing light in the basement and as usual, he followed the wires.

Once he got to the basement, he finally found Colton in the basement. He was lying on a saw table with wires attached to his head and a heart rate monitor next to him.

Slade slowly approached the man. He was tempted in chopping off his head there and now but couldn't, not until he woke up or until Felicity and the kids woke up. Slade couldn't risk having them trapped with that monster. He needed to wait.

* * *

Cisco continued to be hit by his father over and over again with the spiked belt until the arm he used to block the blow was cut and bleeding. And the father continued yelling the same thing between blows: "Why can't you be like Dante!?"

It got to a point where Cisco grabbed his father by the wrist and yelled at him angrily. "Don't ever touch me again!" He shot up his hand and a bright blue energy blast came out, blasting his father back.

His father crashed into the wall and fell to the wooden floor.

Cisco got up and looked at his shaky hand where the blast of blue energy came from. _What the hell was that?_ Cisco thought as he looked at his now beaten down father, blood pooling around his head. _I killed him_. He approached his father to see if he was really dead. He wasn't a killer. He did it out of self-defense. "Dad?"

His father suddenly grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him down to the floor. Of course, when his father looked, it wasn't the face of his father Cisco was looking at. It was the bloody face of his friend Barry Allen.

"Why!?"

Cisco gasped and scrambled back to his feet before bolting towards the door that led outside. However, when he opened the door, he wasn't in the front yard of his house. He was in a white hallway full of dark green lockers. _What the hell?_

The green lockers burst open one by one before slamming themselves. This kept repeating again and again, and papers and books flew around, and the fluorescent lights on the Styrofoam ceiling flickered on and off. Cisco covered his ears as he couldn't bear the sound of lockers doors being slammed shut loudly without stopping. The disadvantage of being autistic. For some reason, he could hear each of the locker screaming the words FREAK at him, a nickname the kids at school used to call him.

He covered his ears and curled up on the hallway floor. _Slade! Felicity! Rachel! Where are you guys?_ _Help! Please!_

* * *

They continued running through the woods. As they continued forward, Rachel suddenly stopped in her tracks. When Felicity noticed it, she quickly ran back to her and told her not to get separated.

Rachel didn't answer. Instead, she turned right and ran the opposite direction they were running before. Felicity followed her. "Rachel, stop. Where are you going!?"

"Cisco! I know where he is!" she shouted.

"Wait for me! Don't go far!" Felicity shouted back as she chased after her.

This place could change into something else at any moment. It was like a labyrinth. No, not a labyrinth. It's a Rubik's Cube. A shifting Rubik's Cube that would change its setting at any second.

It took awhile before they were finally out of the woods and found themselves in a school ground. The school was called Carmichael Elementary. Felicity heard of the name Carmichael Elementary before. Isn't this the school Barry used to go when he was a kid? When Felicity and Barry were dating for a little while, he told about he was bullied a lot in that very school when he was a kid by some kid named Tony Woodward.

 _Did Cisco used to come here too?_ Felicity thought. Of course, she didn't have time to answer herself that question when she saw Rachel bolt towards the school where she said Cisco would be. Afraid of being separated again, Felicity followed her. If she said Cisco was in there, she would have to listen and follow. She didn't want to be that kind of parent that doesn't listen to his/her kids when they're right about something.

However, when she and Rachel reached for the double doors, it was found locked tight. Rachel pulled at the doors but they wouldn't budge. She ended up falling back on her hide. Felicity slammed her fist against the metal door in frustration. They couldn't get in. Colton won't let them in. He didn't want them to get to Cisco. If they got to him, Colton would lose and the man wasn't up for losing.

* * *

In the real world, Slade dragged Colton's body out of the basement, knowing that he couldn't be in two places at once. He wasn't going to waste his time going up and down like freaking Bennie Hill.

When he returned to the kitchen and dropped the body on the floor, he heard Cisco whimper and cry in fear in his sleep. Slade glared down at Colton. "You're not taking another one from me," he stated even if the son of a bitch wouldn't be able to hear him.

Slade approached Cisco and took his hand in a firm grasp. "Come on, kid. You're going to make it. Don't give in just yet. I'm right here."

He already lost his son Joey, his oldest son Grant hated him, and now his daughter Gül (or Rose), which he just recently discovered, planned to kill him and everyone he cared about. He couldn't afford to lose another son, or another daughter. He prayed Felicity would snap them out of the trance in time. He couldn't lose them all.

* * *

Felicity kicked at the door and cursed: "Frack!" She was going to throw the F-bomb instead but not in front of Rachel.

"What's frack?" she asked.

"Something that you'll never repeat when you go to school," Felicity muttered between her teeth. "Not this on though...We can't get in there."

"Why can't we control our dreams?" she asked.

"Because Colton is the one controlling them, honey," Felicity explained, "As long as we're asleep, we can't control our minds."

"I can," Rachel stated and Felicity looked down at her in confusion. "Whenever I see something scary, I try to pretend it's something else and it turns into something else."

"Examples?" They were _really_ running out of time.

"Um, the door can turn into candy glass and you break through it," Rachel stated.

 _What is this? **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory**?_ "I really don't have the imagination for that."

"I do!" Rachel exclaimed as she walked in front of the door. "But wait, this is Cisco's nightmare. He should be the one doing it."

"But you have powers, don't you?"

"I don't know how to control other people's minds yet," Rachel said, "I only know how to move objects and read people's minds."

"Well, that's just great," Felicity scoffed before slamming her fists at the metal doors and yelled. "Cisco! If can hear me, snap out of it! Cisco!"

"Cisco!" Rachel screamed, her eyes turning black as her powers went to work. _Cisco!_

"Cisco!"

* * *

 _Cisco!_

He was still curled up on the floor covering his ears with his hands to block out the sounds of the locker doors slamming open and close, and shrieking obscene words at him. He was already at the brink of screaming.

 _Cisco, can you hear me? It's me._

He could hear it. It sounded like Rachel. Of course, he couldn't tell if it was really Rachel or the lockers playing tricks on him.

 _This isn't real. It never was. It's Colton. He wants to hurt us. Don't let him get to you._

"Where are you?" he muttered.

 _The door! We're at the door! Felicity and I!_

Cisco looked up towards the red metal doors at the far end of the hallway. He heard banging noises at the other side and his name being yelled out. He recognized the voices to be Rachel's and Felicity's. They were behind those doors.

Time to get the ass up. Cisco quickly got to his feet and ran to the door. As he did so, the lockers finally stopped slamming by themselves. But they remained open. Water suddenly poured out from each locker, spewing large amounts of it into the hallway like a waterfall and it was filling the hall with water fast. It already reached up to Cisco's ankles. He panicked and ran to the door faster.

He slammed his fists against the door. "Hey, guys! Guys!"

"Cisco!" That was Felicity's voice. "Cisco, open the door!"

He pushed at the door panels to open them but they wouldn't budge. "I can't! It's stuck!" He looked around. The water reached his knees and it was rising faster. "Ah shit. There's water everywhere and it's rising fast!"

At the other side of the door, Felicity covered Rachel's ears as she tried to use the canary cry to break the door down but that didn't work either. "Frack!" she muttered. "Cisco, you're going to have to open the door yourself! This is your nightmare!"

"Do I look like I have some sort of magic powers to open the door!?" The water was already rising up to his waist.

"This is the dream world, Cisco, everything can happen!" Felicity shouted.

"Well, I'm going to die drowning, that's what's going to happen!" he shouted.

"Cisco, focus! You can get yourself out of this!"

Eventually, Cisco gave up on opening the door and pressed his forehead against the door. "Why don't you guys just home? Get out of here. Leave me behind."

"We're not leaving you!" Felicity snapped firmly, "I promised myself I'd get you both out of here."

"Listen, as long as you two are okay, I'm fine," Cisco assured them.

"Well, we're not fine. Not until we get you out of here. Come on, Cisco."

Cisco didn't say anything. He simply cried. He thought it was probably for the best. He never found much use of himself but mess things up. The explosion of the particle accelerator. Being compared to Dante. Being bullied at school for being different. Plus failing at saving Rachel from Colton. Most of these nightmares tormenting him were simply a message of what a failure he was to everyone and himself.

At the other side of the door, Rachel looked at Felicity tearfully. None of them wanted him to die. Rachel walked up and pressed her hand to the door. "Please."

"Cisco, please," Felicity begged, though he tone sounded more angry than scared. She had to talk like Slade in order to get him to listen. "Cisco. Get your head out of your freaking ass and open the damn door or I'm going to kill you myself. Do you hear me? I'll break every bone in your body if you don't open the hell up."

It took a minute before Cisco could respond. The water already reached his chest and it began to turn red and smelled bad. He looked around in confusion and fear. Bodies upon bodies of small children floated up to the surface, all of them with glassy eyes and sunken grey faces. Cisco squinted his eyes as he recognized some of the bodies, one of them being African-American 9-year-old Holly Carson, a child that was reported missing for twelve years. Holy shit.

He went back to the door and banged on it. "The water just turned to blood and there are dead bodies floating here. Little kids. One of them is Holly Carson."

Holly Carson? Felicity frowned as she heard the name before. But she needed Cisco to open the door. "Cisco, you need to get out of there. Please, try to open the door."

Cisco put a lot of thought to it. He needed to think about the positive. Positive. Positive. He still had people that loved him. He instantly remembered blasting his father into a wall earlier with some blue energy blast that shout out of his hand. Maybe it could open the door.

"Okay. Listen, I'm going to try one more time!" he said, "You two might want to take a step back!"

Felicity picked up Rachel and ran down the steps.

The bloody water rose up to his neck. Cisco brought his hand up, ready to blast at the door, when the dead body of Holly Carson tackled him and dragged him under.

He held a deep breath in order to keep himself from swallowing blood as her struggled to get Holly to let him go. He grabbed her by the neck and pushed her head back as she tried to bite at him Walking Dead style; she already had the glassy eyes and the face to prove it.

"Something's wrong," Felicity said as they didn't hear anything else from Cisco. "Oh God. Please no."

"Cisco!" Rachel screamed. But he didn't answer.

Cisco punched Holly in the face as hard as he could until she finally let go, and he quickly swam up to the surface, gasping for air but also hitting his head with the ceiling. What the hell? The hall filled up fast and he only had a few minutes before it filled completely. And the doors were already submerged under red water.

"It's just a nightmare. It's not real," he said to himself before diving back in and swimming towards the doors. He pressed his hands to the door and hoped his idea could work.

Three...two -

Cisco was grabbed by the ankles. It wasn't just Holly this time. There were four other kids grabbing his feet and dragging him away from the door. It was now or never.

He shot his hand forward and looked away. A few moments later, the blue energy came back and blasted the door open. Finally. Surf's up then, literally.

Felicity and Rachel screamed when the door finally burst open and an enormous wave of blood came crashing down on them and they were washed through the woods. Felicity held onto Rachel tightly. A lot of blood must have filled up the school. For Felicity, it felt like the elevator scene from The Shining film, except there weren't so many dead bodies in it.

She then spotted Cisco, who was also being dragged through the woods by the waves of blood.

"Cisco!" she yelled.

"Felicity! Rachel!" he shouted.

"Hang on to something!"

Cisco quickly grabbed onto the roots of the trees. Felicity did the same while holding onto Rachel tightly.

It took awhile before the blood stopped flowing violently, slowing to a full stop. Afterwards, the trio got up from the now muddy ground, shaking as they were all covered in blood. Cisco stumbled over to Felicity and hugged both her and Rachel.

"I'm glad you guys are not dead," Cisco said and immediately let go of them. "You are you, right? This isn't another trick."

"No tricks, I hope," Felicity said as she handed Rachel to him, "Excuse me for second." And she threw up on the ground. She was still getting used to blood. If she didn't throw up on the night Slade killed Blake Taylor in front of her, she'd be lying. She threw up a few minutes after killing Taylor. She even threw up in the toilet at the motel in Gotham after shooting Black Mask's men down. And she threw up in the hall after killing Miss Li. Basically, she threw up a lot without anyone noticing, not even Slade.

"If that's how you are right now, I don't want to imagine you getting pregnant," Cisco said as Felicity straightened up and pushed her hair back.

" _If_ I ever get pregnant," she muttered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cisco asked with a frown.

Felicity shook her head. "Nothing."

"...You can't have kids, can you?" Cisco realized. Felicity didn't say anything. "Does Slade even know about this?"

"I was going to tell him after we stop Colton," she confessed, "I didn't think it was the right time." She looked at Rachel and hung her head in shame. "It's the reason why I took the program of being the substitute foster parent at the Zandia Orphanage, to know what it might be like to be a mother, knowing that I might never be one in the future. As far as I can see, I suck at it."

"No you don't," Rachel objected meekly, "I can read minds, remember? I already know about what happened. It's okay. I'm not mad."

"See? Even Rachel is okay with it. Who says Slade won't be okay with it?" Cisco said.

"Have you met him?"

"Yeah. Lots of times, actually. And I think Slade will be more upset if you don't tell him. One way or another, he's gonna find out."

"Can we talk about this after we get out of here?" Felicity suggested. This was the worst place to even have a conversation like this.

"Hey guys look at this," Cisco said as they followed him to a pond full of the blood that poured out from the school. Bodies of children floated in the surface, including the now still body of Holly Carson. They were so many children than they could count. Where did they all come from?

"Cisco, have you ever gone to Carmichael Elementary? Barry's school?" she asked.

Cisco shook his head. "No. I want to the school three blocks away."

Holly Carson? She heard of the name before. "I remember a girl named Holly Carson. I think she used to go to my school in Nevada. She went missing a few years ago after my mom's death." Her eyes then widened. "I think I remember something. My dad used to be a science teacher at my school. After my mom filed for a restraining order against him, he got fired from school. That's when some of the kids at the school started disappeared, little boys and girls, some of them found raped and murdered. When my mom died, the murders and disappearances stopped. At least, that's what I thought."

"Well, I'd hate to break it to you but I don't think the killings stopped in Las Vegas," Cisco observed, "These kids look like they're from all over the U.S. Your dad's a psycho, Felicity."

"Tell me something I don't know," she said.

"He stinks," he added.

"Again, tell me something I don't know," Felicity muttered.

"I want to go home now," Rachel nearly pleaded.

"Don't worry, honey, we're going home soon," Felicity assured her. "We just need to signal Slade."

"Where is Slade?" Cisco asked.

"Waiting to wake us up," she said before shouting, "Slade, I got them! Get us out of here! God help me if I'm not talking in my sleep. Slade!"

"Um, question," Cisco spoke up, "Do trees bleed?"

The trio looked around at the trees seeping red goo from the cracks of the barks on the trees. They were definitely bleeding.

"Trees don't bleed like that though," Felicity stated as she grabbed Rachel and the three raced back to Carmichael Elementary, possibly the only refuge they could find despite the school trying to drown Cisco.

Trees groaned and screamed in agony as the branches broke down one by one and crashing down on the ground, almost hitting Felicity, Rachel and Cisco. They ran faster towards the school in order to avoid being hit by the heavy branches.

A few moments later, they reached Carmichael Elementary and entered before closing the doors shut.

However, they weren't facing a blood-covered hallway anymore. It looked like some kind of boiler room, with large thick pipe intertwined everywhere, furnaces full of red-hot coals, puddles on the concrete floor, a bright orange glow and an unbearable torrid heat.

"What the hell is this?" Cisco muttered.

"I don't know but let's get out of here," Felicity said. They turned back to the door but it was immediately gone. The door wasn't there anymore, just a rusty metal wall. "Frack."

"If I had a Swear Jar right now, I'd be rich," Cisco said.

"Not the time right now, Cisco," Felicity said. Besides, frack doesn't even count as a swear word so he won't get a dollar.

They immediately noticed sharp objects hanging from the pipes. Knives of various sizes and covered in fresh blood. Chains. A bear-trap. An axe. Buckets. And body bags. The body bags looked familiar, maybe it was because they were the same body bags the police would find the missing children in.

"Why is Colton showing us this?"

"To show you what I've been doing for the past 20 years," Colton suddenly appeared from the shadows. He was in his own form, and not in his other forms he used to scare other people. "I could have fucked you, Felicity, and skinned you alive before slicing your throat. But I didn't."

"Why?" Felicity asked. "Why do all this? Why hurt all of those innocent kids and spare me?"

"You were my favourite," Colton said, "Spared you because I love you. All these brats from these schools were just one-night stands. When you were born, you were everything to me. I wanted you for myself but your mom would never let me near you because she knew what I did. She found pictures of all the kids I fucked over the years before you were born. She never wanted me to touch your beautiful skin. So I went to satisfy my own needs with the other children. But they were never the same. And when your mom filed the restraining order against me when you were four, I decided to prove myself to you, to show a father's love for you."

"By getting rid of the other kids you raped?" she stated as she hid Cisco and Rachel behind her.

" _And_ your mother," Colton added.

"That's not love, Colton, that's _sick_ ," she snapped.

Colton went red in the face and facial features grew dark. "I did it for _you_ , Felicity. Because you're my daughter. I did it all for you."

"You really have a strange way of showing it. Are you sure that you didn't just do it to cover your tracks, knowing that once those kids reach an older age, they were going to tell their parents and the police?" Felicity guessed, "You may be crazy, Colton, but not that crazy. And I'm not stupid either. You don't love me. You're obsessed with me, ever since you realized you couldn't have me. That's what's it's about, having something that you were never allowed to have and get it by any means necessary. Well guess what, Dad, you can't have me, Cisco or Rachel. I'm leaving and I'm taking the kids with me."

"You're not leaving me, Felicity…not alive, at least." Colton immediately snapped his fingers.

Emerging from the shadows, appeared Slade in his Deathstroke costume and mask and wielding the sword in his hand. He did not look happy.

"Ah crap," all three of them said before making a run for it through the pipe areas where it would be too dense for the Fake Deathstroke to chase them

"That's not Slade, is it?" Rachel asked while holding onto Felicity.

"Nope," Felicity answered as they ducked under one of the pipes and continued running. It was getting even hotter as they went deeper into the boiler room. She asked for Rachel and Cisco not to touch any of the pipes if they didn't want to get burned.

"Do you think Colton killed the kids here?" Cisco asked.

"The boiler room used to be under the schools," Felicity explained. "They were used to keep the building from getting cold. So the answer? I think he did."

They ran as fast as they could as Fake Slade continued pursuing them. Colton kept telling them that no matter where they went, he would still find them no matter what. Colton was the one in control of dreams, he would know where they'd be hiding. There was no escape from their personal nightmares. That they were trapped with him forever. That they would never get out of here alive and that ironically, they were going to be killed by the person who cared about them the most.

As soon as they were out Fake Slade's reach, they ducked under a few pipes, careful not to touch them because they were red hot like the coals in the furnaces.

"So what are we going to do about Slade? Or Fake Slade, or whatever the hell he is?" Cisco asked. "We can't just keep running from him. He's going to find us sooner or later."

"I'll handle those two myself," Felicity said as she removed the collar from her throat. She would probably still have it in the real world but right now, she didn't need it. She would need all the power she could get. "Right now, my main priority is to get you two to safety. I want you guys to wake up and get out of here."

"Are you crazy?" Cisco objected, shaking his head. "We're not leaving you here with that psycho."

"Please, Mama," Rachel begged.

"This is my fight, guys. I'm responsible for you two," Felicity said sternly. "This is my fault so I'm going to stay here and fix this once and for all."

"Well, we're not letting you do this alone," Cisco said, "We're staying here with you whether you like it or not. We're going to figure it out."

"Do you have a plan, Cisco?" Felicity asked. They were asleep and trapped in a place where anything could happen. Any plan they could come up would be easily botched up by Colton in minutes. There was no plan.

"Yeah. Her," he answered while pointing at Rachel.

"Tell me you're joking," Felicity said.

Cisco shook his head. He wasn't joking. "No, I'm not. I mean, come on, you've seen what she can do. She can move things with her mind, she controls electronics and can even read minds. If she's able to read minds, she can control them too."

"Cisco, one I'm not sending my daughter out there to get herself killed, and two, she's only limited to telekinesis and telepathy. Nothing —."

"I lied," Rachel suddenly said and they all looked at her. "I lied…again." Felicity stared at her in shock. "I can control minds, make them see what they want to see and make them do what I want them to do. I never used them because…"

"Because what, Rachel?" Felicity asked.

"…Because it means, opening my powers completely and what comes out of it is not good," Rachel explained, "What comes out of it is too horrible for you to see."

"The only way we can kill Colton is by making sure he's fully awake," Cisco explained, "And I think the only way to wake him up is to scare him. Do you think you can do that?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes. But that would mean showing him my greatest fear."

"I thought what I saw earlier was your greatest fear," Felicity assumed after seeing her trapped in a straitjacket and almost get attacked by a deformity that was supposed to be her mother.

Rachel simply shook her head. "I made Colton see what he wanted to see. That wasn't my greatest fear."

"…I'm not sending you out there, Rachel," Felicity said tearfully, "I'm not losing you again —."

Felicity yelled when she was suddenly grabbed by the throat and dragged out from under the pipes by Fake Slade. Cisco and Rachel screamed and quickly scrambled from under to help Felicity. Of course, Felicity told them to run.

"Get out of here!" she yelled.

Cisco told Rachel to stay put while he went to help Felicity. He raced towards the Fake Slade who had Felicity by the neck, choking her. "Hey, asswipe!"

Cisco tried to fight him, kicking him in the gut thought it was fully armored. On top of that, he tried to punch him but Fake Slade grabbed his wrist and effortlessly threw him like a ragdoll.

Cisco landed on the ground but hit his head against the hot pipes and instantly disappeared into fog. Rachel screamed in horror.

* * *

Cisco sat up from the kitchen table with a gasp. _Holy shit_. He was clearly shaken up from what happened in there and touched the back of his head to feel it hot and throbbing from the hard hit he got from the pipes. _Shit_.

Slade, who saw him wake up, quickly approached Cisco and placed a hand on his shoulder. Cisco jumped with a fright and smacked him hand away. "Tell me you're the real deal and that I'm awake," he demanded, his voice shaking.

Slade simply brought his hands up to show him he meant no harm. "You're awake. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Cisco sighed in relief. "Thank God." He then looked next to him to find Rachel and Felicity still asleep. "Ah shit. They're still trapped in there."

"What happened?" Slade asked sternly.

"We got attacked by one of Colton's imaginary friends, one of them looked exactly like you," Cisco explained. "He grabbed Felicity by the throat. I tried to help but the dude threw me off and I hit my head."

Concerned, Slade went over to where Felicity was resting. He could clearly see marks bruising over her slender neck. He checked her pulse. She was still alive. But her heart rate was going a bit too fast. He prayed she wouldn't die of a heart attack. He also checked on Rachel's pulse; she was still alive too but her pulse was racing very fast. Cisco simply watched worriedly.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"We wait," Slade said.

"Are you kidding me? Felicity and Rachel are going to die in there. We have to wake them up —."

"Felicity's mission is to find you two, bring you home and kill Colton," Slade explained, "I'm doing my part."

"No, you're not. Rachel is still asleep," Cisco reminded him.

"You think I haven't tried waking her up?" Slade snarled at him as he took a syringe full of adrenaline in his hand. He took Rachel's small arm and tried to jam the needle into it, only for the needle to break in half as it reached the arm just an inch. "She won't let me."

* * *

Rachel screamed in horror after watching Cisco evaporate into the air. He was gone. She looked at Felicity in tears and she knew she would be gone as well if she didn't do anything about it.

Felicity tried to fight off Fake Slade. She tried using the canary cry but her neck was held too tightly to even let out a squeak and she was already becoming light-head. She was then slammed to the ground, and she gasped as the wind was knocked right out of her.

"Rachel, run," Felicity choked up as she looked over at her, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. "Go."

But Rachel didn't move from her spot. She remained staring in terror and her eyes filled with tears. This had to stop. Her heart raced when she saw Fake Slade grab a dagger from his pouch and aiming it at Felicity's chest. That's when her eyes turned black and an angry growl crept up her throat.

"Run, Rachel! Rachel, run!" Felicity managed to yell as Fake Slade was about to stab her in the heart.

" _STOOOOOP!_ " Rachel screamed but it was an inhuman-like screech.

A dark wave of energy blasted out of her body and the entire boiler room plunged into darkness, like the city going through a blackout.

The boiler room was gone. Felicity was gone. Rachel was gone. Fake Slade was gone. The only person standing in the middle of the darkness was Colton, looking around in confusion at what just happened and wondering where everyone went. It was eerily quiet. No sound at all. Where did everyone go?

"Felicity!" Colton's voice echoed as he called out her name. "Where did you and your little brat go!? I know you didn't just leave me here by myself!"

There was no answer.

"Where are you!?" he shouted.

"Why are you shouting, Mr. Smoak?" a child spoke to him and sounded very familiar.

He instantly turned around to find himself facing a classroom full of children sitting behind their cubicles, watching him intently. One of them, on the front row, was Holly Carson. She was alive and looked healthy but she had a slash on her throat (one he made) and her eyes were completely black. The other kids had black eyes as well. He also recognized one of the boys in the back row to be William Malone, also known as Billy, with pale-looking face – the left side looking like he was smashed by a hammer multiple times – brown bowl-cut hair and brown eyes. Bowl cuts were popular for younger boys in the 80's and 70's. Colton remembered kidnapping and raping Billy before bashed a hammer into the boy's face a few weeks later. Most of the kids were his students, the ones he killed, many years ago.

"I thought you were a teacher," Holly Carson said. Colton was too dumbfounded to answer. She was only meant to appear whenever he wanted to. He concentrated very hard in making them go away but they were still there, sitting and watching. "Thank you for the pretty necklace. I love it. It matches my raincoat," she said while tracing the slash on her neck. "Do you still have it, Mr. Smoak? You said you'd keep it as a souvenir."

"And what about my sneakers, Mr. Smoak," Billy spoke up, "My Spider-Man sneakers. You said you would keep them nice and shiny."

"Go away," Colton stammered and tried to shoo them away, "You kids are dead. Get the fuck out of here."

A little girl with ribbons and bruises decorating her neck said. "Mommy said that's a bad word. And we're not supposed to leave until class is over, remember?"

"I thought you missed us," another said.

"You said you loved us…"

"We were going to play in the boiler room where you used to take us a lot…"

"You had a lot of fun with us back then…"

"Can you write the ABC's on the board again, like you used?..."

Colton turned around to find a chalkboard being him. A piece of white chalk slowly lifted into the air and began to write on the board, scraping against black and leaving white smears. It was writing the ABC's and the children were repeating it like a chorus. "A...B…C…D…E…Felicity Smoak was never yours. You are a disgusting pig. I promised to protect her from you even it means death. You killed me. But now I'm back. And now you're gonna PAY!"

Someone poked his shoulder and turned around to find himself face to face with his ex-wife Evelyn Smoak, her eyes black and grinning darkly at him. "Hi honey," she spoke in a dark demonic voice.

Colton staggered back and ran out of the classroom, away from the kids and his ex-wife. He stumbled into the school hallway where he found bloody footprints on the floor and handprints on the walls along with repetitive PAY written on it. "What the fuck is this?"

"Colton!"

He looked over his shoulder to see his daughter Felicity standing at the end of the hallway, still alive and glaring back at him. But Rachel wasn't with her. Where's that little bitch?

"Now you're going to know what it's like to be afraid," Felicity said.

"I'm not afraid of you, Felicity Megan Smoak, or should I call you Black Canary from now on?" Colton said daringly.

She smirked at him and her eyes turned black. "I'm not Black Canary or Felicity Smoak." She shot her hand forward and Colton was sent flying back through the hall.

Colton sat up and looked at Felicity in shock. As she walked towards him, her body and face changed shape until she looked like the previous Canary, Sara Lance.

"You really think that you can get rid of us that easily…" She changed to Laurel Lance. "Without facing the consequences of your action?" Cisco Ramon. "You've just made a big mistake." Oliver Queen. "You don't even know what fear real is like…" Slade Wilson. "Until you look right in front of you." He was now facing himself, a grotesque version of himself grinning cruelly.

"How are you doing this? What the fuck are you?" Colton asked nervously.

Colton's clone slowly shrank down to child's size and changed shape once more until it took the shape of Rachel Roth, her eyes completely black with a second pair on top of the other, teeth sharp and her skin in a reddish hue. "…I'm the devil's daughter."

She let out an inhuman screech and Colton screamed in terror, getting up and making a run for it, only to get punched in the face by the real Felicity Smoak. Felicity punched him twice before giving him a roundhouse kick.

Felicity grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hauled him off the floor. "You're not killing anyone anymore."

"Get that demon away from me!" Colton screamed in horror.

Felicity looked at Rachel. Her lips parted slightly as she held back a surprised gasp at the sight of her. Black eyes and reddish skin. She look like…Well, like a demon. But Felicity looked back at Colton. "I only see _one_ demon," she growled before screaming out the canary cry on him.

Colton fell back and skid across the next hallway. When he stopped, he saw that he was surrounded by his victims (including Evelyn Smoak and Sara Lance) looking down at him with those terrifying black eyes of their before they pounced on top of Colton with ferocious growls.

Felicity watched as the victims clawed at Colton, tearing and biting through his flesh like animals. She shook in terror since she was watching her own mother and her best friend tearing and eating at Colton, even they weren't real. It still made her stomach turn uneasily. She felt a hand squeeze hers and she looked down to see that it was Rachel, looking up at her with a sad expression. Rachel was probably thinking that Felicity was terrified of her now that she saw her _other_ side. But Felicity knew that underneath the red skin and four black eyes, there was still a beautiful and loveable six-year-old that needed a mother, a family. Felicity smiled and picked her up in her arms, embracing and kissing her head. "My baby. My sweet baby."

* * *

Slade and Cisco waited and waited and waited. So far, no response, when they suddenly heard screaming. They quickly turned around to find Colton sitting up from the floor and screaming like a madman, clawing his face with his nails.

Cisco stared with wide eyes. Something must have really scared the shit out of Colton which fully woke him up.

The man got up as he continued to scream and claw his face. Before he could run out of the kitchen, Slade took the opportunity of his deranged disorientation and drove his sword through the back of Colton's skull, the sharp tip of the blade coming out through his frontal lobe. Colton gagged and twitched for mere moments before he went completely limp. Slade held the man steady as he took out his sword, now covered in blood, and released the body, only for Slade to swing the sword at the neck and decapitating him. The body fell forward to the floor and the head rolled away like a ball.

"Oh my -." Cisco gagged in nausea and ran to the sink to vomit.

"It's over, Cisco," Slade listened to him vomit as he put the sword down and walked over to the duffle bag where he took out another syringe full of adrenaline, prepared to wake Felicity and Rachel up now that Colton was finally dead. "Let's bring them home."

* * *

"Let's go home," Felicity said as she watched the Colton's victims leave, heading back to the classroom while Evelyn and Sara left the school. She smiled. _Let them go, Felicity. What's done is done_. "Do you want macaroni and cheese when we get back to Starling?"

Rachel nodded eagerly. She was clearly hungry. "Can you put bacon in them this time?"

Felicity chuckled. "Sure. You know, that look can be awesome for Halloween. You just need a witch's costume."

Rachel giggled.

They suddenly heard a rumbling sound, more like a growl. It echoed throughout the school halls. What the hell is that? Felicity looked at Rachel with a frown.

"It's not me," Rachel said, shaking her head.

"What is that?" Felicity asked.

"I tried to warn you," she said. She did. She said that bad things would come out if she used more of her powers.

That's when the walls began crashing and crumpling to the ground, revealing red hot light and dark shadows flying behind it, snarling and growling and shrieking. The lockers melted to the ground and lights above them flickered.

Felicity took Rachel and ran through the cracks before the school could crush them. To her surprise, they were in some sort of lava world, standing on a rock surrounded by a lake of melted hot rocks. The rocky walls even had waterfalls of lava. It was like standing in the pits of hell. Or at least, that was what they were standing in. There were dark flying deformities everywhere and what looked like red carcasses reaching out from the lava and screaming woefully.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"What I was afraid of," Rachel said regretfully.

A tall silhouette appeared before them, more than ten foot tall with four glowing red eyes and long horns. It roared at them angrily. Felicity let out a fearful yell and held Rachel tighter.

"It can't leave me." Felicity looked at Rachel when she said that. "I'm the thing that's keeping it here." Rachel pushed Felicity away, no matter how much she tried to hold her back. "I'm something the call a vessel, the only way he can get out. But he can't if there's no vessel for him to escape through."

Felicity shook her head as she realized what Rachel meant by that last part. "Rachel, no," she ran up to stop Rachel but immediately stopped in her tracks, almost falling forward and unable to take another step further. She even tried to use her canary cry but it wasn't working. She was frozen on the spot and looked at Rachel with pleading eyes.

Rachel stared over her shoulder at her tearfully while the creature continued to approach them, the tears streaming from all four of her eyes. "I'm sorry."

She walked farther from Felicity and closer to the creature, taking slow and steady steps before stopping in front of it and raising her trembling hand up, dark veins now sprouting over it. "Leave."

"Rachel, no!" Felicity shouted.

The creature roared, screamed and screeched in agony, bringing its ginormous hands to hold its head. Felicity covered her ears as the roaring was like thunder. Rachel screamed. Again, it wasn't a human scream. Her screams sounded that of a bird in agony, with blood leaking from her nose, eyes and ears and veins sprouting all over her face. As the screams continued, the creature slowly burst into flames like paper and it continued roaring in pain as it spread greater and greater. Rachel closed her eyes tightly as the flames grew larger and hotter. It burned so badly but she could take it.

" _RACHEL!_ " Felicity screamed as the flames reached her and engulfed her, making her disappear before her very eyes. Before the flames could reach Felicity, she had already evaporated from the dream world, and the hell they were in darkened, froze and crumbled.

* * *

Just as Slade was about to inject Felicity with the needle, she sat up gasping, tears now flowing down her face and shaking. She looked over at Rachel, who was still lying there unmoving, and gently pushed Slade aside. _Maybe we can still wake her up_ , she thought as she rolled off the couch and walked over to the table where the child lay. She laid her hand on Rachel's forehead and took her hand. "Wake up," she whispered. But Rachel didn't move.

Slade stared in confusion and concerned. "What happened?"

"Why isn't she waking up?" Cisco asked worriedly as he watched.

Felicity pressed her lips together and sniffled. "I don't know...Rachel saw I was about to die, so she let her powers loose. We stopped Colton together. And we were ready to go home but then...everything just happened so quickly. We were in this hell and this giant creature tried to grab at us both...Rachel said it was something she's been trying to keep from getting loose for years...something about her being a vessel and that _that_ thing can't get out if there was no vessel -."

"No, Felicity," Cisco said, his eyes now teary. "Don't. Don't say it."

She looked at Slade with pleading eyes. "Please. Can you wake her up?"

Nodding, Slade walked over to Rachel and pierced the child's skin with the needle before injecting her with the adrenaline. They waited for a moment, at least 30 seconds, but nothing happened. Rachel was still in the same state.

Slade pressed his fingers against Rachel's neck and then her small wrist. He waited for a minute before shaking his head. "I can't feel a pulse." He started to perform CPR on her, pushing his hands down to the child's chest. He pinched her small nose and opened her mouth to blow air into her. He continued doing this for over a minute but so far wasn't successful.

"Slade," Felicity was already tearing and shaking her head in disbelief, "She has to wake up."

"I'm trying, Felicity," Slade growled.

"Don't do this," Cisco muttered. He was now crying, his nose in snot and his bottom lip shaking.

Blood was now leaking through Rachel's nostrils as well as her eyes and mouth like drool and tears. Slade opened her mouth, only for more blood to come out. He checked her eyes; they were black again. Felicity gasped in horror.

"She's dead," Slade said, sighing sorrowfully.

Felicity shook her head repeatedly, tears now flowing down her cheeks. "No. No, she can't be dead," she said, her voice breaking as she began to sob. "I promised I would take care of her. I promised I'd protect her. She can't be dead."

"Felicity -." Slade took her arm but Felicity snatched it back and pushed him away.

"No, she can't die on me now," she cried as she held Rachel close to her. Slade went to a window to leave her be and punched a hole through the glass in frustration. He listened to his love over her lost daughter. Even Felicity saw it happen. She just didn't want to believe it. "Please, wake up. Don't leave me. Please, Rachel, please!" Felicity continued crying and sobbing loudly.

Rachel Roth never woke up. She died.

* * *

 **Well...this killed me.**

 ***sigh* Well, guys, there you have it. I don't know if you guys will hate me for that later. I mean, I _did_ just kill one of the most beloved characters in the DC Universe and I probably have readers now throwing tomatoes and cursing at me for that so sorry. I can imagine you guys must be frustrated with this. If not then that's okay. **

**Anyways, thank you all for reading. I hope you guys...Well, _hoping_ you guys enjoyed it is still left to debate after this. Let me know how you felt about this chapter. **

**The two-part epilogue to _The Canary Cr_ y will be posted probably next week. **


	47. Epilogue (Part 1)

**Two days later...**

 _ **(Fleurie - Hurts like Hell)**_

They had the funeral at the same cemetery where Sara Lance's funeral was. Everyone who knew them arrived for it. Oliver Queen. John Diggle. Lyla Diggle. Laurel Lance. Caitlin Snow. Cisco Ramon. Barry Allen. Harrison Wells. Richard Grayson. Quentin Lance. Donna Smoak. Diana Prince. Bruce and Damian Wayne. Lex Luthor. Ray Palmer. The headmistress of the orphanage was there as well even if Felicity didn't really want her there since she was the one who wanted Rachel out of the orphanage in the first place.

 _How can I say this without breaking_

 _How can I say this without taking over_

Rachel was inside a red oak coffin of white cushioning. The one who sold the coffin to them suggested a black coffin that would be suitable for a funeral but Felicity wanted it red oak. If she was going to bury her daughter, she wasn't going to bury her in a grim-looking thing. She decided on the red oak coffin and she didn't change her mind about it; she also had the star of David engraved on top of the coffin lid. She knew that Rachel wasn't Jewish but it felt right. She and Slade had Rachel dressed in a little white dress and a knitted doily bonnet along with a golden pendant of the star like the one on the coffin.

 _How can I put it down into words_

 _When it's almost too much for my soul alone_

Everyone sat in there seats, listening to the prayers by the rabbi. "Almighty Father, as I stand at the grave of my beloved child, I tenderly recall the joys that she gave me during her lifetime. How I delighted in her physical and mental growth. How I planned for her future. Though few and brief were the years wherein I rejoiced with my beloved child, many indeed were the blessings she brought into our home. The passage of years will never fill the void in my heart, nor can time soften the pain of bereavement. Though she is no longer in our midst, her memory shall forever be enshrined in my heart. O merciful God, Giver of life, Thou hast recalled what is Thine own, and hast taken her into Thy loving care and keeping. Though my heart still grieves, may I, who have known the joys of parenthood, bring love and cheer into the lives of others. I pray that the soul of my dearly beloved child be bound up in the bond of eternal life, together with the souls of all the righteous that are in Thy keeping. Amen."

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

Laurel was sitting next to her father Quentin, wiping off tears from her eyes. Colton was dead just as Laurel wanted but it all came with a price; she sometimes blamed herself for being so desperate to avenge Sara and nearly forgot that someone would die at the end. Oliver and Diggle sat behind Felicity along with Barry Allen, Richard Grayson and Harrison Wells, none of them saying a word as they were both filled with guilt for not being there to save Rachel in time. Lyla splayed her fingers over her slightly swollen belly, trying very hard not to cry.

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

The investors of Queens Consolidated Bruce Wayne, Ray Palmer and Lex Luthor sat far behind. There were at the funeral just to express their condolences to Felicity Smoak, not exactly to Slade Wilson. Bruce wanted to make sure Damian stayed close but Damian sat closer to the front. "Just leave me alone," he had said before storming away from Bruce. Even Damian was upset about Rachel's death as he was the one who tried to save her from the Black Mask and failed. Richard was making sure Damian didn't go running off by himself.

 _And it hurts like hell_

 _Yeah it hurts like hell_

"Wasn't the kid accused of murdering her mom?" Lex asked.

Bruce glared at Lex. "Don't be an asshole. She just died."

"I'm just asking," Lex said.

"Shut up, Luthor, just shut up," Bruce growled. He looked over his shoulders and saw a man standing outside Starling City Cemetery, a man with sandy blonde hair and dressed in a beige trench coat and red tied. It was, of course, the same man Felicity knocked out with the canary cry in Las Vegas. "John."

 _I don't want them to know the secrets_

 _I don't want them to know the way I loved you_

In the front row sat Felicity, Slade, Cisco, Caitlin and Donna. Slade held Felicity close to him as she sobbed quietly while Donna was patting her back gently to comfort her. Cisco was sitting next to Slade's right side. Cisco was crying because he too felt guilty for what happened to Rachel, and Caitlin was trying to comfort him, telling him that it wasn't his fault. That's what everyone kept saying, that it wasn't their fault but Felicity felt like it was her fault. She knew that she shouldn't have left her there. She should have aborted the plan of killing Colton but Rachel was the one who wanted to finish it once and for all and sent Felicity out of the dream world. Felicity felt like she was the one who was supposed to be dead, not her.

 _I don't think they'd understand it, no_

 _I don't think they would accept me, no_

And yet some thought she was a killer. She heard Lex Luthor say it. One thing's for sure, Rachel was not a killer. What happened in Crime Alley was not her fault. She only did what she was told. She was a victim like everyone else. She was innocent.

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

"Miss Smoak, do you want to come up and say a few words?" the rabbi asked.

"I don't think she -." Donna tries to shoo the rabbi away but Felicity stood up from her chair. Felicity knew her aunt meant well but she couldn't let them bury Rachel without saying a few last words.

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

She walked up to the front, facing the people that arrived to the funeral. She looked at Rachel's pale lifeless face, how she looked like a type of life-size porcelain doll with the little white dress, the doily bonnet, and the bouquet of lilies clasped in her small hands. She smiled softly at her before facing the guests.

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_

"Thank you, for coming today. I know that some of you came here to offer me condolences, not for her, but I'm glad you all came," she said. "Rachel was an incredible little girl. She was kind, she was curious...She ate a lot, that's for sure. I don't remember a single day where she didn't want macaroni and cheese. Trust me, she would go crazy for mac and cheese. But she was also sad. She would have her moments of happiness but since the beginning, she was the saddest person I've ever met in my life. She always thought of herself as a burden, she never felt she was good enough for anyone and she was always afraid that people will hate her, that no one would love her and that she would be looked upon as a monster. And I've met people that actually treated her like a monster." She said that part while looking at the headmistress who looked down in shame. "And then there were people that treated her with kindness, who understood her pain and that fought for her no matter what they were told about her. And for that, I thank you."

 _And it hurts like hell  
_ _Yeah it hurts like hell_

She bit her lower lip as she tried not to cry. "I fought for her and failed. She fought for me and succeeded. I tried to keep her safe and she tried to keep me safe. I didn't deserve having someone like Rachel as a daughter. I didn't think I deserved any kids in general, especially with my kind of history. But Rachel didn't care. She just wanted a mother that loved her, that cared for her and that would do absolutely anything for her. And that's what made her such a wonderful girl, loving people no matter who they were before. She only cared of who they are now. I loved her for that. I couldn't have been a prouder mom."

 _Dreams fight with machines_  
 _Inside my head like adversaries_

She turned to the coffin and removed the veil so she could lean and kiss Rachel's head. "Goodbye," she whispered before she began sobbing again. Slade got up from his chair and walked up to hold her in his arms.

 _Come wrestle me free_  
 _Clean from the war_

Afterwards, Rachel's coffin was lowered down into the ground. Felicity, Slade and each of the people present at the funeral threw dirt at the lid of the coffin as part of Jewish tradition, except for the headmistress who left the funeral unhappy for the indirect comment Felicity made towards her. Felicity was surprised that Damian threw dirt at the coffin as well after seeing not being the emotional type of boy.

 _Your heart fits like a key_  
 _Into the lock on the wall_  
 _I turn it, I turn it_

Once the funeral was over, everyone was returning home. Cisco, Caitlin, Barry and Dr. Wells returned to Central City. Bruce, Damian and Richard returned to Gotham. Lex Luthor returned to Metropolis. Ray Palmer returned to his hotel where his fiancée Anna Loring was waiting. Oliver returned to his apartment, taking Donna with him as requested by Felicity and Diggle and Lyla went home.

 _But I can't escape_  
 _I turn it over, I turn it over_

Felicity and Slade stayed behind to say their last goodbyes. Rachel was buried next to Sara's grave and Tommy's as well. When the coffin was buried, Felicity put a bouquet of white lilies over the grave. It wasn't much of a custom to bring flowers at a Jewish funeral but Felicity knew that Rachel would have loved having lilies. Slade held her in comfort and they left the cemetery. As they left, a raven flew on top of Rachel's tombstone, a raven with blood red eyes. It cawed and pecked on the tombstone before flying away.

 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_  
 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_  
 _I loved and I loved and I lost you_  
 _And it hurts like hell_

Rachel Angela Roth

October 31, 2008 - September 5, 2014

* * *

Bruce Wayne entered the bar at night after Rachel Roth's funeral. He left Damian with Dick to head back to Gotham on their own. He needed to talk with the man in the beige trench coat who was standing outside the cemetery during the funeral. He followed him to a bar called The Red Fae and walked in. He found the man in the beige trench coat sitting on one of the stools at the far end of the bar hunched and drinking a glass of scotch. He was alone and the bar was empty.

Bruce approached the man in the beige trench coat. He noticed the man was drunk judging by the many empty glasses.

"John," Bruce said, "John Constantine."

"Shhh," the man said with the wave of his hand. He took another sip of his scotch. " _Nokito nomun visoris_."

Bruce looked around to find the entire bar full with strange-looking people, ones with elf-like ears, some with pale face, red eyes, golden eyes, sharp teeth, flat noses, long noses. Some were tall and others were short. They were all staring at Bruce and John.

"Faes," John said, "They're real eavesdroppers and gossipers." He then yelled at them. "Don't you lot have anything better to do!? Go fuck Tinkerbell or something, you blights!"

A woman behind the bar with a oval-shaped face, beady black eyes and bob-cut red hair looked at Bruce while cleaning of the empty glass. "He's just drunk and in a very bad mood. Sit anywhere you want, dear."

Bruce sat down next to John Constantine and ordered a bottle of beer. One of Elvis Presley's song was being heard throughout the bar. "I saw you at the cemetery today. I was afraid you'd walk up to Felicity Smoak and make things worse than they already were."

"I saw the papers yesterday and came down here," John said as he showed Bruce a paper clip of recent newspaper. There was a picture of Rachel on that clip and the article below. "If you thought I wouldn't find my way here, you're dead wrong. Too bad I came here too late. I liked Miss Smoak's speech. She seems like an honest person and looked like she really loved her."

"She _is_ an honest person," Bruce said as the bartender returned with a bottle of beer and quickly scurried to the kitchen. "The girl was lucky to end up being cared for someone like her -."

"Lucky!?" John snapped. "She died because of that woman's father. I don't think that's something I consider lucky!"

"Would you have rather for her to stay in an orphanage forever or being under the care of abusive parents?" Bruce asked. "Or being taken away from civiliazation where she wouldn't human contact whatsoever -?"

"That's not my fucking point!" John shouted as he stood from his stool. "If you had just given her to me as instructed, none of this would have fucking happened! She was supposed to be under my care, not in a freaking orphanage so she could be cared by someone only to be killed at the end -!"

"You know exactly why I couldn't put her under your care, Constantine," Bruce explained to him as calmly as possible, "Your behavior, your history and the incident at Newcastle. I didn't think you were ready to raise a child."

"I have a housekeeper," John stated.

"This isn't about what you have, Constantine, it's about what you don't have," Bruce pointed out, "Stability. Your life is a rollercoaster of magic gone bad, extractions of demons gone wrong, nights of constant drinking and smoking, inadequate partnerships and danger after danger. You have more enemies than you know of."

"And you _don't_?" John chuckled as if Bruce told a joke.

"Why do you think all of my adopted sons left me?" Bruce wasn't going to use the term Robin in the middle of the bar with nosy faeries. It would expose him as Batman. "Dick got tired of living under my shadow and left to be his own man. Jason died and came back with unrelenting fury towards me. Tim, same thing with Dick. And Damian? I don't know what to do about Damian anymore -."

"Now that kid is the one that needs exorcism," John interrupted while filling another glass of scotch. "That boy of yours is a nightmare."

"But Robin doesn't have powers," Bruce pointed.

"That is not the point!" John snapped angrily. "The girl is dead, and it's because of a decision you made! If you had just left her in my care like Angela wanted, she wouldn't be dead in the first place!"

"She'd be in more danger -."

"No, she would have been safe!...Four years, Bruce. Four years I've been helping Angela raise that little girl. Church of Blood got her pregnant. The Monks of Azarath wanted to kill that child once she was born. No one would help her. I was the last person she came to for aid. I let her live in my home, she gave birth to Rachel there and I helped raise her. I was the one who taught her magic! I was the one who helped her control her abilities! They trusted me!"

"Then why did they leave your home if they trusted you so much?" Bruce asked.

"I know I have a temper. Maybe that was my main problem. With Astra at Newcastle. The last thing I wanted to hear is a child asking for an exorcism," he confessed.

"Did Rachel ask you for an exorcism?" Bruce asked. But John didn't say anything. He simply took another sip from his drink. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Beats me. I honestly don't know where she got that bloody idea of wanting an exorcism. When she asked me for that, I snapped. But I didn't hit her, I can promise you that. I was drunk that night but not _that_ drunk. I never laid a hand on her. But I did yell at her. I was angry. I told her she was crazy and that if she asked for it again, she was going to die."

"You threatened her?"

"No. But exorcisms meant death," John explained grimly. "Of course, I made her cry. Angela took it out of context and got bloody pissed at me. She told me to never threaten her daughter again. I tried to explain that it wasn't a threat. It was the truth. If I performed an exorcism on her, she would mostly die like Astra. But she wouldn't let me explain. The next morning they were gone."

"And you went out looking for them," Bruce guessed.

"For two years straight, mate," John pointed out.

"You were going to ask Angela to return to the House of Mystery," Bruce stated asked, "Did you love Angela?"

John shook his head. "No. But I loved her daughter. She was a good girl. I treated her like she was my own. I made mistakes, Mr. Wayne. A lot of mistakes. And I thought that having her in my life would give me redemption, a second chance to actually find some meaning in my life besides alcohol, exorcism, magic and woman. Now she's dead. And it's all because of a decision you made. And perhaps it was because I couldn't keep my mouth shut."

Bruce didn't say anything. He simply watched John have another drink, this time chugging it down. Bruce took out something from the inner pockets of his black trench coat before placing it in front of John.

"Despite her death, Rachel wasn't alone," he said. "And she was happy."

John looked down at a photo of Rachel smiling and sitting next to the blonde girl with glasses Felicity Smoak who was at the funeral. The foster mother.

"I would have made her happy, Bruce," John said while taking the photo in his hand.

Bruce shook his head. "No. You would have been a constant reminder of what she is with all that demon shit and dark magic. And in that photo, you can tell that for the first time she actually felt human and not some devil's spawn." John didn't respond to that. He served himself another glass. Knowing that it was enough said, Bruce patter John on the back. "I know how much she meant to you. I'm sorry."

"Just get the bloody hell out of here. I don't want to see your face again," John grumbled.

With that, Bruce left The Fae bar.

John stuffed the photo in the beige trench coat. _Poor little doily_ , he thought and wiped off unshed tears from his eyes.

* * *

 **Queens Consolidated...**

Just a few days after the funeral, Felicity and Slade moved back to Merlyn Mansion. They thanked Oliver for his hospitality and letting them stay at the apartment. But things hadn't gone back to the way they were before. After the funeral, Felicity didn't say another word. She remained silent, always sitting near the window or in the balcony, looking up at the sky. Slade tried to get her to talk but she wouldn't utter a word to him. He was already getting worried about her. When Rachel died, it was like part of Felicity's soul was torn out of her. It was like her entire life collapsed before her. Slade tried to get Donna to talk to her but even _she_ wasn't successful. Unfortunately, Donna had to go back to Las Vegas; she had work to do and didn't want to get fired. She wished the best of luck for both him and Felicity.

Slade had gone to back to work to Queens Consolidated but as Oliver's co-CEO after receiving the offer, possibly out of pity for the kid's death. Slade rejected it at first since he couldn't bare the thought of leaving Felicity alone, especially after what happened to Rachel. But after so much insistence, Slade accepted it only on the condition on leaving at midday to take care of Felicity while she remained in her catatonic state.

Slade sat listening to Oliver's ideas to keep Queens Consolidated afloat without ruining the neighbour companies and its investors. Of course, Slade wasn't very interested in neither of those stuff. He was only interested in returning home to Felicity. He didn't like leaving her alone like this and just as he expected, he was becoming impatient and desperate for it to be midday. He was ready to gouge out the only eye he had left if the meeting didn't end.

"Slade." Oliver brought him out of his thoughts. Slade didn't know he kept tapping his tapping and broke a pencil in half until he was called. "Any opinions?"

"...Sorry," he apologized. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Do you want me to go over it again?" Oliver, giving the usual and tiring 'I'm sorry' sad face, something that Slade was getting sick. In fact, everyone in the meeting room was staring at him with pitiful looks. He didn't like people feeling sorry for him. It's not him they should be sorry for. He did care for Rachel but it was Felicity who was heartbroken.

Slade shook his head. "No. Carry on."

"We were discussing on how to keep the company from falling into bankruptcy while our investors debate on whether to help the company or not," Oliver explained. Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor and Ray Palmer were the only investors to had left and they didn't want to lose them. They already lost the investments from Dr. Arthur Light, which in Slade's opinion wasn't a complete lost.

"Are you asking for an opinion on what we should do to keep the company afloat while our kind investors debate on whether they will accept our offer of not?" Slade questioned since he had been listening for a while even if not the entire time. "I might be able to scrape off some money from my own account, Mr. Queen, but there will have to be sacrifices for the time-being. We need to cut off some of the funding on a small portion of Starling City. Maybe that way we might be able to have at least thirty percent of the trust fund in order to keep the company from sinking to the ground."

"Slade, those trust funds are charitable donations Queen Consolidated has given to give financial security to important buildings of Starling City like the Merlyn Clinic. If either of them goes down, we might face a private and public riot on our hands," Oliver reminded him, "And right now, I'm not the protestors' favourite person at the moment." He wasn't anyone's favourite person at the moment ever since Sara Lance's death (some still found him guilty for the murder), Slade mused, not the investors, the public or even Laurel.

"I only have one building in mind, Mr. Queen," Slade took out a folder and splayed it on the glass table in front of Oliver. Oliver opened the folder, revealing photos of a building that looked a bit like the Cathedral of Notre Dame. "Zandia Orphanage, a religious-oriented orphanage belonging to St. Pancras parish. The former mayor before Sebastian Blood and Robert Queen funded the place while it was in charge by a man named Roger Trigon who passed away some time after the Undertaking before the orphanage being handed over to our former mayor Sebastian Blood, who tragically passed away and his partner Cyrus Gold whom we could not contact via phone or email."

Slade met Cyrus Golda after meeting Sebastian Blood. He was a lot more smug than Sebastian but still just as cowardly. He somehow disappeared right after Sebastian died and no one spotted him since. Zandia was once in the Glades but then relocated after the Undertaking, to an abandoned church just a bit out of Starling City where it was reclusive and stayed away from any danger. It was also named after a country in Europe.

"But even before Sebastian died," Slade continued, "Zandia Orphanage is suffering grand amount of negligence from the current headmasters, including tossing unwanted children into the streets. Children that are supposedly too troublesome for them. Not only that but also leaving the children in the care of foster parents without background checks. We don't know if those foster parents are abusive or just as neglecting as the headmasters. Recently, there was an incident where the headmistress of Zandia made the illegal action of giving the custody of a six-year-old girl to a foster parent after allegedly biting a boy on the shoulder, or was it the ear?"

"Did they arrest her?" one of the men in the room asked.

Oliver took out another photo, revealing the neutral face of Rachel who died recently. She was also resident to Zandia Orphanage. Oliver stared in shock as he did not know this.

"Her name is Rachel Angela Roth and she was the sweetest girl you'll ever meet," Slade said almost sadly. "She was once in the care of my girlfriend Felicity Megan Smoak. She was a good girl despite of the claims at Zandia. She died of unfortunate circumstances."

"We're sorry to hear that." Walter Steele, the ex-husband of Moira Queen and ex-stepfather of Oliver Queen, was attending the board meeting as well. He offered to help the company any way he could. Upon hearing the death of the child Rachel Roth, Walter went to the funeral to offer his condolences to Felicity Smoak as she once helped him investigate Moira's alliance with Malcom Merlyn. "How is she?"

"The truth? She hasn't gotten out of bed for over a week," Slade told him, "She barely eats and just stares out a window all day. The thing is, Rachel was a very important person in her life. Zandia Orphanage neglected Rachel Roth and other children so I believe that she is the last of the orphans that will be tossed in the streets and no more kids will be tossed in the streets any longer."

"Are you saying that Queens Consolidated should stop funding for Zandia and shut it down permanently?" Walter asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Mr. Steele," Slade said.

"Didn't I say something about avoiding public feuds and protestors?" Oliver said, "Am I speaking Japanese here, Mr. Wilson?"

"No but you can certainly speak Chinese, Cantonese and Russian," Slade grumbled.

"If we shut down Zandia Orphanage, we're going to have a public riot on our hands," Oliver said, "More kids will be on the streets with nowhere to go -."

"Not to mention that Queens Consolidated will be probably receive more hate if the media happens to broadcast this decision and the investors will automatically deny our offer," Walter reminded them.

Slade scoffed. "It's not like the city cared about the orphans on the street anyways. Cops find them and instead of taking them back to the orphanage and suing the headmasters, they take them to jail and automatically classify them as juvenile delinquents. You see them on the streets with miserable looks on their faces and no one seems to give a second because they don't care. Besides, I already have plans to relocate the children from Zandia Orphanage. I called Child Services myself to report the incident of neglect and demanded them to find me information on other orphanages of any use."

"And did they?" Oliver asked.

"They had to," Slade said, "I threatened to sue them if they didn't. And I have a lot of connections to do so."

"You threatened them?" Oliver asked in astonishment.

"More or less," Slade said.

"Mr. Wilson, can we talk outside?" Oliver asked as he straightened up from his seat and Slade followed him out of the board meeting, leaving Walter and the others to mumble among themselves.

"I understand what you're going through right now. I do. I lost my father, my sister left the sister and do I have to remind you that you killed my mother? The only reason why I haven't put an arrow through your other eye is because of Felicity. I understand that the two of you are hurt right now, especially her. But this is not the way to solve things," Oliver said sternly. "Closing up the Zandia Orphanage will bring consequences. Even if you find a place to relocate them, there will still be kids on the streets because newsflash, Slade, most of these kids are Starling City residents and sending them away to different states of the U.S. is a bad idea. Sending an orphan to another orphanage in a different city is like sending a girl from Russia to an orphanage in India. So I don't know how to say this without you punching me in the face or snapping my neck but I'm going to say it anyways. I'm denying your request -."

"Go ahead then," Slade snarled, "Deny it as much as you like. And I'm not the one who's hurt. Felicity is. I'm not the one in bed back at home wishing I was dead instead of Rachel. She is. I tried to revive Rachel with CPR but I couldn't because she was already dead before I could do anything about it. Felicity is devastated. Cisco is petrified. And I'm angry because I could have woken that poor girl up with the syringe I had containing adrenaline but I didn't. Out of all the stupid decisions I could have made, I just made the worst. And I know a lot about stupid decisions because you make plenty of them. What am I feeling is not pain, Oliver. It's guilt. And the best thing I can do to make this guilt go away and do what's right. I am aware of the consequences, Oliver. And I'm willing to face them with everything they have to throw at me."

"You need therapy, Slade. You and Felicity," Oliver said in a sad tone. "I am sorry for what I did five years ago and I'm sorry what you went through recently. But you need to find a new way to be at peace, not just for Felicity but for yourself. And I'm not just talking about Rachel. I'm also talking about the island _and_ Shado."

Slade rolled his eye. "The many times I try to forget that god-forsaken island, you always manage to bring it up. The only way I'm going to feel at peace is if you do what I'm asking you to do. Rachel was in danger when the headmistress illegally gave Felicity full custody just to get rid of her and the bitch didn't care what happened to her as long as she wasn't there anymore. She'll do the same to the others but this time in the streets if we don't put a stop to it."

Oliver took a lot of thought to it.

Slade was right at the end. There were at least 15 cases reporting from SCPD about parentless kids walking around the streets living in either cardboard boxes or abandoned buildings in the Glades where the previous Zandia Orphanage was placed. There was even a missing person's case on one of the Zandia residents, a sixteen-year-old girl named Nancy Stapler who was recently tossed out of Zandia after the headmistress found a men's magazine under her bed. The last place she was seen was at Jade Dragon but got kicked out because she was underage. No one has seen her since.

After a while of talking with Walter and the others, they finally agreed to accept Slade's request on shutting down Zandia, gather up the kids from the streets and relocate them to another orphanage that would have better working conditions. Oliver knew they were going to have a negative response from the press, the media and the public but if Slade was right, Oliver was forced to go to City Hall to convince the new mayor Kate Spencer, Sebastian's former attorney which in Laurel's words was "the worst idea in the history of ideas" placing her rival Kate Spencer as the new mayor of Starling City, to shut down Zandia. It would take a few days but Slade would just have to be patient about it.

Once the meeting was over, Slade returned to his care as he needed to get back home to attend Felicity. He knew his guards were trustworthy enough to keep an eye on her while he was at work but didn't put trust on anyone very long. He already made clear that if any of his men laid a hand on her, he would know about it and kill them.

As he opened the door to his car, something fell from his coat pocket. He looked down and frowned at the sight a small photograph at his feet. The photograph looked old, like from the 80's or 90's. It showed the smiling face of a young woman in her early 20's with pale skin, dark eyes and black hair and bangs over her forehead. She was a pretty thing but he still wondered how the photograph got in his coat. He flipped the small photo upside down where he found a small spot of blood and a name written in black. _Angela_. Slade's eye widened when he realized that Sebastian Blood once mentioned a girl he met at the Church of Blood who went by the name Angela. And the most scary coincidence was that Rachel's mother was named Angela Roth. Could she have been the same Angela Sebastian was talking about.

He still remembered the words Sebastian whispered to his ear before he died.

 _"Slade," Sebastian choked up, "Listen...Listen to me..."_

 _"I'm listening," Slade said plainly as he crouched down on the floor next to him._

 _"Don't let them find her," Sebastian whispered before finally dying on the floor with blood still dripping out from his mouth._

 _Don't let them find her._ Those were the last words Sebastian whispered to Slade before dying. And just by looking at the photographs of what might be Rachel's mother, he can assume what Sebastian meant by _her_.

* * *

Slade returned home (he didn't plan on telling her about Angela or the photograph he found in his pocket for she already went through enough) and found Felicity in the kitchen, sitting in front of the island and drinking a glass of red Villány wine. It was strong stuff and the bottle was half empty so there was a possibility Felicity was drunk. He also noticed a whole pecan pie in front of her. He hoped Felicity didn't take a bite out of it or he'd have to take her to a hospital. She was allergic to nuts and pecan did count as a nut.

He approached her and sat the opposite side of the island. "I didn't think you'd get out of bed."

Felicity didn't say anything as she took another sip of wine.

"I'm guessing that's your third glass," Slade said with a soft smile.

"...Eighth," she simply said.

"You're drunk," he stated.

"No shit, Sherlock," she grumbled as she took another sip of wine. By the tone in her voice, she did not sound happy. "I was also hungry. Donna brought pecan pie after Rachel's funeral. She forgot that I'm allergic to nuts. It makes my throat swell. Now I don't know whether to eat it or just throw it away."

"Let me do it," Slade said as he reached out for the pecan pie but she immediately slapped his hand away. He glared at her. "Felicity..." He reached out for the pie again, only to have wine splashed in his face. "Felicity!" he snapped.

They both glared at each other for a full minute. Slade stood, walked around the kitchen island and tried to place his hand on her shoulder but Felicity quickly stood up and took a step back.

"Don't come any closer!" she snapped at him warningly. "Don't you dare touch me!"

"I'm not going to let you eat that and die on me -!"

"Why didn't you wake her up!?" she shouted at him. Slade simply stared at her, knowing that she was referring to Rachel and how the poor child died in her slumber. He remembered Felicity begging him to put her back to sleep after she was brought out of unconsciousness but he didn't have another needle containing anesthesia and he was afraid that he could kill her with the next dose. She even insisted on being knocked out but it was already too late. "She was right there in front of us!? Why didn't you wake her up! Why didn't any of us wake her up!? We could have saved her!"

"If she was the one who brought you out of your state of unconsciousness, that was her choice to make, Felicity! No one knew what was going to happen -."

"Yes we did! We all did! And yet, we left her there to die! I left her there! I was supposed to take care of her, not the other way around! I was her mother and as her mother, I would have died in her place instead of her!" she screamed in his face, "Now she's gone! She's gone and she's not coming back!" She then began to cry tear up after a minute of yelling in anger. "I killed her -."

"You didn't kill her, Felicity -."

"She died for me, just like my mom did," Felicity cried, "They both died for me. I killed them."

"...You think punishing yourself for her death is going to bring her back?" Slade asked. Felicity didn't say anything. Thinning his lips in frustration, he took a spoon and scooped up a piece of pecan pie from the tray before placing the spoon in her hand. "If that's the way you want it, go ahead. Eat it. I want to see you collapse on the floor struggling to breath while your life slowly leaves for something you had no control over. Perhaps you are your mother's daughter, after all."

Felicity looked down at the spoon in her hand, containing what could kill her in just an hour in a slow and painful way. Evelyn never committed suicide. She already knew this. Colton was the real killer. But she always felt like she was the killer. Now she felt she killed Rachel.

"But just so you know, Rachel died for _you_. Only you. She loved you. If you kill yourself now, what the fuck did she die for then?" Slade asked.

Felicity shakily let go of the spoon, letting it fall to the floor, and she collapsed. Slade held her in his arms so she wouldn't hit the floor and sat down with her sobbing onto his chest. He held her in a tight embrace as she continued to sob loudly and uncontrollably. "It's all right," he assured her and kissed her head, "I'm right here. I'm not leaving you alone."

And he wasn't. He already promised her he would never leave her alone. He would love her forever until the end of time, no matter what.

* * *

 **A week later...**

Felicity and Slade stood in front of the tombstone, placing red rose in front of it. Felicity sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She looked up at the cloudy sky when she heard squawking sounds and saw seagulls flying over the cemetery where they stood. "I thought Australia would be more...colourful."

They weren't in Starling City Cemetery. They weren't even in the U.S. anymore. They were in Australia, visiting the graves of Slade's ex-wife Adeline Kane and his son Joseph Wilson. They decided a few days away from Starling City would do them good. Slade thought it be best not to do the trip and give the tickets to someone else since the third ticket was meant for Rachel but Felicity wanted to come to Australia so Slade could visit the graves of his family. Besides, the third ticket wasn't wasted. They gave the third ticket to someone else.

"Don't believe anything you saw in movies," Slade stated with a chuckled, "Not everything is as colourful as they show in _Finding Nemo_."

Felicity laughed slightly. "I didn't think you'd watch _Finding Nemo_."

Slade put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her head. "It's good to hear your laugh. Maybe coming here wasn't a bad idea after all. It's good for the two of us."

"Three of us," she corrected him as they both looked over to where Cisco was standing, at the far end of the cemetery, kicking pebbles like a child. "He's still upset. He blames himself too for what happened to Rachel."

"You weren't the only one having a bad time, love," Slade said.

Felicity realized that she nearly forgot she still had people that loved her and that would be devastated if she killed herself over Rachel's death. And Slade was right, if she did that, Rachel's sacrifice would be meaningless. She had to live, for her. Slade should probably give the same advice to Cisco.

"I was thinking of quitting the mantle for awhile," she said.

Slade frowned at her. "I thought being Black Canary is what you wanted."

"...It was," she sighed, "Now I'm not so sure anymore. After everything that happened with Rachel and Colton, I just don't think I'm ready to go out there again and kick people's asses and save lives while reminding me of the people I couldn't save."

"You did what you could, love. No one should expect more from you," Slade said.

Felicity bit her lower lip at the thought of this. "You should really go talk to Cisco."

"He doesn't need a talk," Slade said, "He just needs time to process things. He's a strong boy, I know he is. He can get through this. It's you I'm worried about."

"Cisco tried to save Rachel," she reminded him, "He's just as affected as I am. He's just keeping it in so we don't see it. But just look at him. He's shocked. Talk to him. Don't let him turn into a ticking time bomb like you and I did."

Slade sighed. "Very well."

Felicity patted him on the back. "Go get him, tiger." Slade smiled and was leaving her. "Slade? If Adeline was alive and met me, would she have liked me or killed me?"

Slade chuckled. "You? She would have liked you and your babbling nature. Me? She would have slapped me twice. One for scaring the shit out of her and the second for letting her believe I was dead."

"She would probably slap you and then hug you," Felicity chuckled.

Slade smirked. It was something Felicity would have done too.

Slade walked over to the other side of the cemetery and stood next to Cisco. The boy was staring at nothing. He was possibly thinking. "You're just going to stand there looking dramatically into the horizon or are you going to say something?"

"What else do you want me to say?" Cisco asked, "That I'm fine?"

"Just be completely honest with me," Slade asked.

"I...I don't know what to say," Cisco said, shrugging his shoulders, "She just...died in front of us and we couldn't do anything to stop it. Felicity was there. You were there. I was there. And yet..."

"I understand your frustration," Slade nodded in agreement. "I even had to stop Felicity from killing herself with a piece of pie."

Cisco turned his head to frown at him. "What? How do you kill yourself with pie -?"

"It was a pecan pie and she's allergic to nuts," Slade explained.

"That makes a whole lot of sense now," Cisco said. "Holy shit! I didn't know this!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Looks like everyone is feeling crap. Not you. You look absolutely fine."

"I do, don't I?" Slade smiled softly. "But the truth is, I'm disappointed in myself. I tried saving her but I couldn't. It was already too late. But I can't kick myself in the ass for it. And neither should you _or_ Felicity. It's something we'd have to live with for the rest of our lives."

"How do you do it? Just see someone die in front of you and move on with your life without being affected?" Cisco asked.

"Who says I don't get affected when I see someone die? I get affected all the time. I just don't show it much but in truth, it's a nightmare. Before coming to Starling City, my grief for Shado and my hatred for Oliver Queen nearly consumed me. Then one day, I looked next to me and saw what I still have to live for," Slade said while looking over his shoulder and could see Felicity still standing in front of the grave, "I saw what makes me happy and not moving on with my life will not only drag me to despair but others around me. I learned that the hard way. I couldn't do that to myself anymore and just let it go."

"It really must have been a nightmare for you," Cisco said. Slade simply smirked and gave him a quick embrace.

"It was. More than you can ever know." Slade smiled at him. "You're going to be fine."

He then took out something from the brown leather satchel he was carrying for the trip. It was the Speak & Spell toy Cisco gave to Rachel. "I believe this is yours."

Cisco looked at the Speak & Spell toy and shook his head. "I couldn't it -."

"It was yours to begin with. Besides, Rachel would have wanted you to have it," Slade insisted.

It took a moment of thinking before Cisco finally complied and took the Speak & Spell in his hands.

After the visit in the cemetery, they went to buy some milkshakes to lighten the mood. Slade had vanilla. Felicity had strawberry. And Cisco had mango. They bought the milkshakes near the shore side where the waves crashed onto the rocks and seagulls continued to fly around for food. They were only going to be in Sydney for three days so they were making the most of it, not simply grieve in front of gravestones.

"Hey, guys, look," Cisco pointed at the other side of the shore where a bunch of pelicans were nesting. One of them was big, grey-feathered and old. And it was glaring directly at them. "Wow, that one does not look happy."

"Slade," Felicity said, "Isn't that -?"

"I _swear_ if that's the same pelican, I'm going to lose my mind," Slade grumbled as the pelican continued to glare at him viciously. "Time to go," he sighed as he guided Felicity and Cisco away from the shore and away from the blasted pelican as quickly as possible.

* * *

 **Belle Reve, Gotham...**

Grant was finally released from jail after a 200,000 dollar fee for his release was paid off. It sort of impressed the guards and the people in charge of Belle Reve. They didn't think someone would have that amount of money to get someone out of jail nor did they think someone would pay the fee to release the murderer of Roman Sionis/Black Mask. There was no trial because Grant Wilson was the only one found alive at his office, with knives and guns in his pockets. He was the easiest suspect even if the guards didn't know that it was Black Canary and Deathstroke that killed Black Mask's bodyguards. Gül was the one who pulled the trigger on Black Mask. Yet he got arrested after he was brought out of unconsciousness and Gül got away.

Once out of Belle Reve, Grant was met with the person that paid the fee. The princess of bitches herself Gül Değer. She was leaned back against the blue car wearing a white tank top, black shorts and boots with her arms crossed over her chest and with a smug look on her face. "Brother, why must you get us into trouble?"

Grant glared at her before walking around the car to the driver's seat. "Don't speak to me."

"Aww, big brother is angry with me," she cooed.

He opened the door to the car and sat in the driver's seat.

"And who says you're driving?" Gül smirked as she walked over to the driver's side of the car and gestured him to get out.

Grant scoffed. "Excuse me, your Highny. Can I drive, please?" he asked with gritted teeth.

"All right then," she said while opening the door to the backseat. "And did you really just called me Highny? As in my ass? How immature."

She sat in the backseat where the Vietnamese girl Jade whom she met at Kitty Cornek and they had sex at a motel while Grant had sex with another woman next door. Once Gül got in the backseat, she grabbed Jade's face and began to kiss her.

"Who the hell is she?" Grant asked while looking through the small mirror above. He started the car and drove away from Belle Reve.

"Grant, this is Jade," Gül introduced her. Of course, she already introduced Jade to Grant a while ago before they went to execute Black Mask. He just didn't care to remember. "She works at Kitty Cornek, remember? Her stage name is Cheshire Cat. Jade, you remember my brother Grant, do you?"

"Hi," Jade chuckled before continuing to kiss Gül. "You kept me waiting."

"You know I can't drive and fuck at the same time, love," Gül teased.

"Half-brother," Grant reminded her. "And in case you've forgotten, I was in a fucking prison for almost two fucking weeks thanks to you leaving me behind."

Jade laughed again. "Oooh, he sounds pissed."

Gül leaned to the driver's seat so she could talk to her half-brother better. "Relax, Grant. I was gonna go get you anyways. Do you really think I was going to stick around trying to wake your ass up before the police could show up and arrest us both for the murder of Roman Sionis? I think not. Either it was me leaving you behind and return for you later or have both of us locked up in Belle Reve. Besides, Black Canary knocked you out cold. It would have taken me hours to wake you up by the time the police showed up."

"All right, I get it," Grant growled in annoyance. "You did the right call then. So now what?"

"There's nothing much to do now but wait," she smirked. "I already told Slade of who I am. I'm just letting the words sink in for awhile."

"Did you hear about the Canary's brat dying a week ago?" Grant asked her. "Colton Smoak killed her. She died of internal bleeding."

"Almost everyone in the fucking country knows about it, Grant," she sighed. She looked at the newspaper lying in the passenger's seat. The picture of the little girl Rachel Roth was on the front page with the headlines saying GIRL FOUND DEAD. _How original_ , Gül thought while grabbing the newspaper in her hands and sat back to read it while Jade rested her head against Gül's shoulder. "According to the newspaper, it says that Rachel Angela Roth, age six, died of internal hemorrhage after ingesting lye and sodium hydroxide which was force fed to her by none other than Colton Smoak. Black Canary and Deathstroke managed to only save a boy named Francisco Ramon and Colton was found decapitated. Holy shit."

"Yeah, and the police in Nevada decided not to press charges against Deathstroke because Colton Smoak was already on death row for the murders of more than 48 elementary kids which is sick," Grant said and sighed. "Even after all that, Deathstroke gets to walk away from arrest _and_ death. Maybe that dead kid will serve him right."

Gül looked up from the newspaper. "Not to mention that the lye and sodium hydroxide excuse is total bullshit. I have to admit, I kind of feel sorry for the little brat. She really _was_ just a kid. I can't imagine how the bitch mother is feeling right now."

"The kid was a freak," he growled viciously, remembering how the girl flipped the car over with just the use of her mind.

"Aren't we all freaks now, brother? After all, we do have Mirakuru in our veins just like Deathstroke and Black Canary has sonic screams," she reminded him and closed the newspaper.

"I have an idea," Grant smirked in amusement, "Why don't go to Starling City, dig up the kid's body and just drop it off dismembered at Merlyn Mansion? That would fuck them up?"

"Aw, aren't you a sadist?" Gül cooed and Jade laughed. "Not a bad idea. But no. I don't think that's happening. The boss called. He wants us back in Arizona."

"I thought it was Colorado," Grant said, "I always get those two mixed up."

"Your brain really can't tell the difference between Arizona and Colorado, can you? How is it that the Mirakuru didn't kill you?"

"Sorry if I didn't finish high school to know the difference between Arizona and Colorado. I'm freaking Australian," Grant said.

"And I'm _fucking_ Turkish, and I definitely know the difference between Arizona and Colorado," she snapped, "Arizona has deserts. Colorado has fucking mountains, forests and rivers. The only part I've seen of Colorado with deserted areas is the Western Slope and East Plains. Arizona has the Grand Canyon. Colorado doesn't. Learn the fucking difference."

"But wait, if Colorado still has a portion where it's desert, wouldn't it still be the same as Arizona?" Grant asked.

Gül smack her forehead in frustration. "I give up," she groaned.

"Why are we having this conversation?" Jade asked.

"Because my brother is an idiot," Gül said.

"Why does the boss want us back in Arizona?" Grant asked. "I thought he said we can kill Deathstroke."

"Yes," Gül said, "But remember, we have a job to do. We made a deal with him and his cult. We work for him and he helps us kill Deathstroke."

"What do you think he hired us for?" he asked.

"I do not know," Gül shook her head and laid her head back. "Whatever it is that he hired the two of us and inject us with Mirakuru, it must be very important."

Grant continued to drive out of Gotham and continued to their road trip to Phoenix, Arizona, unaware that the job they took was going to be deadlier than they can imagine.

* * *

 **Part 1 of the epilogue is up. The second part will be out in a few hours**


	48. Epilogue (Part 2)

**Three days before Rachel's death...**

 **Jade Dragon, Starling City.**

A sixteen-year-old was kicked out of Jade Dragon after the manager found out she was under age. She was 5'4 feet tall with pale skin, long flat brown hair, long straight yet rounded at the tip nose and brown eyes. She was one of the orphans that was kicked out of Zandia a few days before Rachel Roth died. She was kicked out of Zandia for having a box of cigarettes and a DIVA lesbian magazine hidden under her pillow. The headmasters thought of her as abominable and a bad influence to the other kids.

"Assholes!" she yelled as she wrapped her coat around herself and walked away from the bar. She took out one of the cigarettes she kept in her pocket and lit it up with a lighter.

"That stuff can be bad for you." The girl turned around to find a boy leaned back against the wall. He looked like a cute boy with adorable-looking baby face, ruffled blonde hair and onyx eyes.

"I don't usually smoke," she said. "I've been under a lot stress lately."

The boy smirked. "Ran away from home?"

She nodded. "You betcha. Of course, I didn't run away from home. I was kicked out of an orphanage."

"You mean you're on your own?" the boy asked in a bit of surprise.

"Yeah, my parents died three years ago. My grandparents died before that. And I don't have any aunts and uncles. Or friends," she said. "So yeah, I'm kind of on my own."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the boy said, "What's your name?"

"Nancy," she said, "And you are..."

"Tate," he said. "Do you want to grab a bite at Big Belly Burgers? It's just around the corner."

"Um, I don't usually hang out with strangers. Also, you're cute and all but I like girls," she said as she continued to walk away. Tate, of course, followed her.

"I'm not asking you out," he said, "I'm just saying, you just got kicked out of a club. What were you doing there in the first place?"

Nancy bit her lower lip. "I need money. I thought I'd gamble a bit to get a few bucks."

"Hungry, I'm guessing," Tate grinned warmly. "Listen, I can buy you a Big Belly Burger and a milkshake if you like. Just saying."

Nancy put a lot of thought to it. But couldn't think well with the sound of her stomach growling. The headmasters of Zandia kicked her out with just the clothes on her back and no money for her to buy food. They threw her out like garbage. As much as she didn't like hanging around with strange people, her hunger won.

She complied. "Okay."

They walked a few feet, heading for Big Belly Burgers.

Tate pulled Nancy into a nearby alleyway. Before she could react, Tate sliced her throat open with a pocket knife. Nancy, wide-eyed, gagged as she pressed her hands to her throat to hold the bleeding but joked on her own blood and collapsed dead on the ground.

Smirking, Tate put his pocketknife away in his black pea-coat before pulling out his cellphone and putting it to his ear after dialing a specific number. "...Hello...Brother...Yes...I have her...You're right, she's very pretty...She'll be perfect...Yes, Brother, I am on my way back." He then hung up.

Tate put Nancy in a black trash bag, which he emptied first, and swung her body over his shoulder before walking deeper into the alley.

* * *

 **Now...**

 _"Oliver, there's been an incident at the Glades,"_ Diggle informed through the earpiece as he was walking on the rooftop with his bow and arrow ready. " _Some chick is popping up in the alleyways beating the shit out of thugs and killing them. SCPD speculated it to be Black Canary because she was using a canary cry but it got debunked when they found security footage and confirmed it wasn't her_."

"Are you sure it's not Black Canary?" Oliver said as he quickly jumped off the roof and landed on top of a dumpster and then touched down to the ground where he had his motorcycle waiting.

" _I'm very sure, man_ ," Diggle affirmed, " _The footage doesn't show her face but it shows that she's brunette while Black Canary is blonde. The attire is dissimilar and is 5'7 while Black Canary is 5'5. Plus Felicity just got back from Australia with Slade and Cisco about 20 minutes ago so yeah, it's definitely not her_."

Oliver got on the motorcycle and rode through the streets as fast as possible, swaying the motorcycle around passing cars and, and made different turns through alleyways to get to the Glades faster.

It took a few minutes before he finally made it to the Glades. He asked Diggle for the coordinates. Of course, Oliver could hear yelling and gunshots followed by a piercing scream that sounded awfully familiar. It was Felicity's canary cry and yet Diggle confirmed him that Felicity, Slade and Cisco just arrived from the airport. Who was it then?

Once he finally neared the alley where the noises were coming from, Oliver hit the brakes and the motorcycle screeched to a stop. With the arrow on the bow, he got up and approached the alley where he found a woman beating a group of four men. One of them tried to shoot at her but she turned to scream at him and he flew back. The other pulled out a knife and tried to stab the woman from behind but Oliver acted quickly and shot him in the arm with an arrow. He then shot the rest in the shoulder to keep them attacking the woman and to keep the woman from killing them with the canary cry she was using. They were already bleeding through the ears. Another scream and it could cause them brain damage.

"You, stop!" Oliver shouted in his Arrow tone.

The woman froze in the spot and slowly lifted her black gloved hands up in the act of surrender but instantly turned her torso around and screamed at Oliver, throwing him back to the ground. He fell there, his body shaking, his head throbbing and his ears filled with white sound, the same way he felt when Felicity first screamed at him. He shook his head sideways in order to shake it off and looked up to see the woman climb up a ladder on the side of the building to the roof.

Oliver quickly got up from the ground and followed the woman up the ladder to the roof. She simply stood at the edge of the roof on the opposite side, her back turned to him.

"Try to scream at me again and I'll shoot an arrow through you before you can make a sound," he threatened while aiming at her.

The woman slowly turned around until she finally faced Oliver. "Oh really?"

His eyes widened when he finally saw who it was. "Laurel?"

Laurel lifted the corners of her lips, which were now coated in black lipstick, in a smirk. "Hi Ollie."

His eyes grew even wider. She knew that he was the Arrow.

"Do you want to know how I found out that you were the Arrow and my sister the Canary? Slade Wilson told me, right after he let Thea go," she said. "It should have been obvious though. You two were really bad liars."

"Laurel, what are you doing?"

"You know, like you, I don't like to be using my real name while out here," she said while still glaring at him. "How about you just call me Black Siren? I mean, Felicity is already using Black Canary."

Oliver kept looking at Laurel's attire, completely dressed in black leather with fishnets on her upper arms, gloves up to her up above the elbows, black leather trousers and knee-length boots, black lips and a collar around her neck. She looked like some punk rock band. It was a bit of a scary look for her.

"Like it? I made it myself," she said.

"Is this about Felicity taking the Black Canary mantle instead of you?" Oliver asked.

Laurel simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No. Felicity already did her part and I'm grateful for that," she said, "Sara's death may have been avenged but that doesn't mean that there aren't people out there like Colton. I'm doing what you won't. I'm taking them out, bringing justice _my_ way."

"This isn't the right way to bring justice," he said. He really didn't want to shoot her but he would if he had to.

"Look around you, Ollie," she hissed at him, "There was never justice. People still died because of Colton, including Rachel. He still won. You killed before. I'm just picking up what you left off."

"I promised Tommy that I would never kill again, that I would find another way to protect this city. You should do the same, for him," he reminded her.

Of course, this only made matters worse as Laurel's glare deepened. "As much as I loved Tommy, I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this for Sara. And if you want to stop me from doing what's right, you're going to have to kill me."

"I don't want to hurt you, Laurel, but I can't let you do this to yourself," he said.

"Then consider ourselves as enemies from now on, Arrow."

She opened her mouth and a canary cry came out, throwing him back and nearly tossing him off the roof. Luckily, Oliver shot a grappling hook/arrow at the ladder on the side of the building to keep himself from falling to the ground with a splat.

He quickly climbed back up to the roof, to find that Laurel was gone. He was shocked to find her like this, dressed in black, using a canary cry, killing people with it, and now resenting him for not bringing justice to Sara the way he used to bring justice to other people before Tommy's death. But she wasn't doing it for Tommy. She was right about one thing, Sara's death was avenged but it wasn't enough. There were still people like Colton in the city. Oliver just didn't think Laurel would go this far to killing people.

"Oliver..." Diggle spoke through the earpiece but it had static. Laurel must have damaged it with the canary cry. "Oliver, what happened?"

"It's Laurel," Oliver explained. "She's behind the killings, she has a cry just like Felicity and she's angry." Of course, he couldn't blame her. She lost two people that she loved and cared for, and she believed Oliver didn't do anything. Malcolm Merlyn was still out there, the real murderer of Tommy. And Sara...Even if they finally defeated Colton, it wasn't enough for her. And what's worse was that Laurel just declared Oliver to be her enemy now. That wasn't a good sign.

" _I recently got an email from Cisco,"_ Diggle informed him. _"He said that his lab got broken in and ransacked not long ago and it was before Colton took him and Rachel. Someone stole a VFX collar that imitates Felicity's canary cry."_

"Why would he build something like that?" Oliver asked.

 _"Apparently just in case Felicity lost her powers."_

"Send back an email. Tell him we found the thief." He hated using the term thief for Laurel but that's what she did. Not only was she killing people, she stole from S.T.A.R Labs. She was going _way_ too far.

The next morning, Oliver went to look for Laurel at work at the SCPD where she worked as assistant district attorney when her previous workplace CNRI was destroyed by the earthquake during the Undertaking. It was still under reconstruction but until then, many of the attorneys were working at SCPD. However, when Oliver went to SCPD and asked Quentin if she was around, Quentin informed him that Laurel just quit her job this morning. She left a resignation letter last night. Quentin was just as surprised as Oliver was.

"Did she explained why she quit?" Oliver asked.

"She just said she found another job that would be better use for her," Quentin explained with a confused frowned. "I really don't know what the hell happened? She really acted strange last night when I called her."

"Did you call her?" Oliver asked.

"I called 5 times and left 6 voice mails and ten unanswered text message," Quentin said as a concerned father. "She's not picking up. It's like her phone got disconnected or something."

Oliver then went to check her apartment, only to find the entire place empty and bare bones. She left the apartment. She quit her job and left the apartment. What the fuck? Was she really that pissed?

 _Where are you, Laurel?_

Oliver never found Laurel. She just disappeared in the air. It was possible that she left Starling City or was now hiding in the shadows away from him. All he knew was that she was pissed and he was going to catch hell if he didn't find her. _Where are you?_

* * *

After returning from Australia to Starling City, Felicity was feeling a bit like herself again. Well, not entirely herself. Taking the Black Canary mantle really did change her by a lot and she didn't know if it was a good thing or not. It made her feel a bit more wary of the people around her, mostly strangers and people with weird behaviours. It made her skin crawl. She was also being a bit cold towards Oliver, an attitude she didn't like about herself but simply couldn't be help especially if Oliver did or said something that could easily vex or tick her off. It wasn't healthy. Oliver was at the funeral and expressed his condolences so knew she shouldn't be treating him like the enemy. Plus she just recently found out Laurel was killing people and going by the name Black Siren, and simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. So Felicity didn't think Oliver deserves to be attacked like that. He was right. She and Slade needed professional help. Oliver already gave them a card to make an appointment with a psychiatrist named Kent V. Nelson.

They made an appointment for 10 in the morning.

However, Slade headed out for a moment because Felicity forgot to buy coffee. This gave Felicity the opportunity to get herself ready without being rushed. She got dressed in a dark blouse covered in white polka dots with a V opening on the front, a black pencil skirt and wide leather belt around her waist. She tied her blonde curls back in a loose ponytail and slipped her glasses on. Looking at herself in the mirror, she really looked like herself again even if she didn't feel the same. After Rachel's funeral, she barely ate and now realized she was a bit thin. She needed to eat again. She also thought of quitting the Black Canary mantle. It brought her nothing but trouble. Everyone told her and told her and told her. Being a hero was a psychological torture. It wasn't just about kicking ass or saving people, it was also about expecting the unexpected and accept the inevitable, including the loss of a beloved one. She didn't know how Sara could tolerate it without going crazy. And Felicity didn't know if she could take it any longer now that she fully faced the consequences of being a vigilante up close. Sometimes she just rather go back to being the IT expert Felicity Smoak, the quirky, simply and awkward blonde she was before. Now she felt like a moping mess and she didn't like that about herself. In fact, she hated it. She felt like beating herself up with a freaking hammer for looking that way she looked now. _God help me_ , she thought as she ran her hand through her hair in frustration for she didn't know what to do anymore, continue wearing the mantle or quit the mantle.

She went downstairs where she waited for Slade to come back. She was sitting in the tall chair reading Rachel's favourite book _The Jungle Book_ by Rudyard Kipling with Rusty curled up on her lap when she heard the doorbell ring. She put down the book on the nightstand and Rusty down on the floor before walking over to the door.

"You know, you could have just called and I would have unlocked the door before you got here," she said as she opened the door. "We're going to be laaaate..."

"I just rescheduled your appointment with Dr. Nelson so you don't have to worry about you and Slade running late." Diana Prince.

"Miss Prince!" Felicity exclaimed in surprise, her eyes wide. "How did you get past the guards?" She peeked over Diana's shoulder to see all the guards knocked out cold. "Holy shit."

"May I come in?" Diana asked. She wore white and gold again. It made Felicity wonder if that was Diana's colour of choice for every day wear.

"Um, sure," Felicity stood aside and let Diana walk in. "Is there something you need?"

Diana turned around to face her. She did not look happy. "I told you to call me if you needed anything. But you didn't."

Felicity hung her head in shame. Diana gave her the card to call but she never did. Mainly because she never thought of calling her. She was only thinking of Rachel and her safety. Motherly instinct. She didn't think straight. But of course, she also didn't know if Diana would do the same thing Bruce wanted to do, take Rachel away from her.

"I didn't know what else to do," she said, "Besides, how would I know you wouldn't take her away from me like Bruce _said_ he would?"

"I'm not Bruce, Miss Smoak," Diana said sternly. "I would never have done such thing."

Felicity pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be talking to you like that. You offered me help. I didn't call. And now I'm snapping at you as if you were on Bruce's side."

"It's all right, Miss Smoak," she nodded, "You just lost your daughter so your frustration is understandable." She looked around the Merlyn Mansion. "It's less crowded than I remember."

"Maybe it's because you're not surrounded by strangers laughing and drinking," Felicity said and led Diana to the parlour where they both sat by the fireplace. Rusty jumped on Diana's lap and rubbed his head against upper arm, much to Felicity's surprise. "Sorry about that. Rusty likes to cuddle sometimes. Although he doesn't usually like strangers so it's a surprise he likes you so fast."

"He _is_ an adorable thing, isn't he?" Diana cooed and scratched Rusty behind the ears to which he responded by purring in delight.

Does she want something from me or she here to pet my cat? Felicity wondered. "Okay, um, can I ask why the unexpected visit or should I wait till you finish petting my cat?"

Diana continued petting Rusty while speaking to her. "I'm concerned for your well-being, Miss Smoak. I've heard of your little behavior earlier and I can't tell you enough how not only was it outrageous but also gravelly pathetic."

Felicity frowned in confusion, not really knowing what she was talking about. Then her eyes went wide when Diana began telling her about her failed attempt of suicide by eating a pecan pie, which would most likely make her throat swell until she couldn't break. Felicity didn't freak out from the fact that Diana knew this but how was the thing she was concerned about. That's when Diana pointed out that the security cameras around Merlyn Mansion were hacked and one of them was pointing directly at the kitchen window where it was all seen, including the argument Felicity had with Slade.

"Can I guess who hacked the security cameras to spy on me?" she asked.

"Let's just say a little bird in Gotham was concerned and wanted to see if you were all right," Diana said.

She only guessed who that _little bird in Gotham_ might be. _Damian_. She couldn't help but roll her eyes and groan. "Remind me to disable the cameras tonight."

"He was very concerned. I was the first one he notified," Diana said.

She frowned at her. "Wait, so his dad doesn't know about it?"

Diana shook her head. "I'm afraid Damian is keeping his father at arm's length after the death of your child. He seems a bit distraught."

"I can relate. He tried to save her and yet, Rachel basically pushed him away to safety while she took the fall," Felicity said. She can definitely relate. "Could you tell him that it's not his fault, please? I just want him to know that he did everything he could, can you do that?"

Diana nodded. "Of course. But I also want you to know something. This cannot continue."

Felicity simply stared at Diana. Tears were already threatening to come out and she kept wiping them away to keep them from leaving her eyes.

Diana continued speaking. "I know you lost so much already. A mother. A friend. And now a daughter. I can't imagine how much pain you must have endured before finally breaking. But I assure you, you are not alone," she said. "Everyone has lost someone they love and care. Some don't continue with their life but others do. But people like you, Slade Wilson, Bruce and me, we all fought no matter what our pain was because we weren't alone. I lost the love of my life Steve Trevor once yet I have friends that accompany me every step of the way. You? Not only do you have friends, but a family also. The last thing they would want is for you to end yourself under all this pain."

"I know and I'm sorry about your boyfriend Steve," she sighed in deception, "Maybe I went overboard with the whole weird attempt of suicide thing. But I'm going to therapy. I'm getting help. Slade and I."

Diana smiled. "But it's not enough, is it?" When Felicity shook her head, Diana took out a card from her purse, one similar to the one she gave her at the coffee shop. One of Slade's guards entered the house and aimed his gun at Diana but Felicity quickly held her hand up, halting him and the others from shooting Diana.

Diana gave Felicity the card. Of course, the card was not like the first card she got before. This one had the blue letters J and L put together and then the phone number printed beneath. She frowned at it before looking back at Diana. "What's this?"

"It's a group," Diana explained, "People like me and like Bruce gather together as a team to protect and save lives from people like your father. The group is small at the moment but we're expanding, recruiting anyone with talents like yours to join us and do good for this world." Felicity simply looked at the card in awe. "You have talent, Miss Smoak. You have potential. And a good heart. It would be a shame to see you waste it all in grief."

"I don't know how to respond to this," she said, looking up from the card.

"I would insist for you to accept the offer but of course, it's your choice to make as well as it is your choice to remain being Black Canary or not," Diana said. "This is for people who want to be part of our group. If you don't wish to accept, then that is fine with me."

"How am I going to explain this to Slade or Oliver?" Felicity asked.

"They were the ones who asked," Diana chuckled. Felicity's eyes went wide and suddenly felt tricked into being left alone in the house with Diana

while he went for coffee.

 _I really feel bamboozled right now_ , she thought.

"I never was hero material, never have, never will," Felicity said, shaking her head.

"But you learn," Diana said, taking Felicity's hand in hers. "You learn from your mistakes and try to make things better in the future. That's what being a hero is about. It's not about having a name or a costume or simply kicking ass. It has always been about protecting lives and try to do our best to keep this world safe even if we don't succeed in all of them."

Felicity looked down at the card again and bit her lower lip. She didn't know what to say. Of course, she was still recovering from Rachel's death so she couldn't tell Diana if she wanted to join the group or not. _Would Sara want this? Would Rachel want this? What about Oliver? And Slade? What will happen to them?_

"What will happen to Slade?" she asked quietly. If she accepted the off, would she be abandoning Slade?

"Like I said, it's your decision to make," Diana said, "Unfortunately, I doubt Bruce will accept Deathstroke in the group due to his history."

She nodded sadly. "I understand. I'll have to thinking about it though."

"Ahem."

The two women turned their heads to the entrance where they spotted Slade standing there with a brown bag in his hand and watching them.

"Did you bring back coffee?" Felicity asked with a _You're so dead, Mister_ expression on your face.

Slade nodded. "Took a while. There was traffic," he explained. _Bullshit_ , she thought. "May I ask why my men are on the ground?"

"Your guards wouldn't open the gate so I let myself in," Diana explained. Slade simply frowned at her. Giving Felicity a small smile, she got up and made her way to the door. "I must be going now."

"Won't you join us for coffee, Miss Prince?" Felicity asked.

"I would but I do have other duties to attend to," Diana said and thanked Felicity for the conversation before leaving.

Once she left, Felicity crossed her arms over her chest and gave Slade the stink eye, to which he responded by shrugging his shoulders and whistling his way to the kitchen, leaving her to brood. _Really?_

* * *

Felicity was cooking breakfast while Slade was helping make coffee. They would take turns. Sometimes Felicity would make the coffee and Slade breakfast. Of course, Felicity didn't remember getting up in the morning which was strange. She just went along with it. She thought that cooking might put her in a good mood ever since what happened to Rachel. She needed to keep fighting for her, and for herself. So cooking breakfast with Slade in the morning was a fresh start

Slade sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. "Didn't we tell her to come down here in five minutes?"

Felicity stopped cooking and looked up to frown at him. "Her?"

He stared at her for a moment before chuckling. "Very funny. When I said that we should forget she ever got that C- on Mathematics, I didn't think you'd be literal about it."

Slade left the kitchen and went to the parlour to the staircase at the foyer. "Rachel, get down here right now or I'll drag you down here myself!" he shouted.

Felicity's eyes went wide when he said that. Rachel?

That's when Felicity saw a young girl trotting down the stairs in a hurry. "All right, I'm coming," she said. The young girl looked about seventeen or eighteen with her face pale and hair dark brown with red highlights and long to her shoulders. She was wearing a black-and-white checkered sweater with a dark grey jacket, a short pink floral skirt, black leggings and short boots. "Sheesh, I was just calling Cisco to come and pick me up."

"Why can't you just take the bus like any other civilian?" Slade asked as she walked past him and he followed her to the kitchen where Felicity was cooking. "You'll socialize better that way."

Felicity was still staring in shocking as she continued to stare at the girl who was now opening the refrigerator door. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It really was Rachel. She's grown and looked very beautiful.

"And be talked down to by a bunch of noise smelly jerks that have nothing better to do but to talk down at people? Plus the risk of Sally Daron pulling at my hair and throwing a bag of ketchup at me again?" she said with a chuckle. "No thanks, Dad. I'm good."

"You've been hanging around with Cisco too much," Slade stated as he patted Rachel's shoulder. Rachel grabbed an orange from the refrigerator and took a bite out of it. "And how many times must I tell you to eat breakfast before leaving. A piece of fruit is not breakfast."

"I thought you didn't want me late for school," Rachel said with her mouth full before swallowing the orange in her mouth.

"You're not leaving without eating breakfast," he said strictly.

Rachel simply rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Dad. Sometimes..." She then walked up to Felicity and hugged her. "Morning, Mom."

Even though in shock, Felicity still hugged Rachel back tightly and kissed her head.

"...Um, Mom, too tight. I can't breathe," she struggled to say.

Felicity released her and cupped her cheek gently. "You look so beautiful."

"Well, I _did_ put leggings under my skirt so Dad won't have another fit about them. He almost hit Damian because he thought he was looking at my butt which is _not_ true. Stop harassing him, please Dad, it's embarrassing," she smiled while giving Slade a look before looking back at Felicity. "But thank you. You always tell me that I'm pretty."

"Because it's true," Felicity said. Tears threatened to fill her eyes as she struggled not to cry.

Rachel frowned. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

It looked like she was unaware of what happened in Nevada or with Colton. She didn't look aware that she was dead just awhile ago.

"I'm fine," Felicity told her, "I'm just...tired."

"Maybe you should take a break from the whole Black Canary thing, Mom, especially tonight. You and Dad have a PTA this afternoon remember? You don't want to fall asleep in the middle of the meeting...again."

"I'll keep that in mind," Felicity said.

She heard a car horn honk outside Merlyn Mansion and Rachel quickly slipped her backpack on. "That's Cisco."

"What did I say about eating breakfast first before you leave?" Slade said sternly.

"I know but I really am in a hurry," she said, "I'll eat breakfast on the way to school. I promise. Bye, Dad." She kissed Slade on the cheek before rushing over to Felicity and kissed her as well. "Bye, Mom."

Rachel walked away from the kitchen and headed for the front door to leave.

Felicity, however, didn't want her to leave. She immediately went after her, calling her name. Rachel stopped in her tracks and turned to face Felicity.

"What?" she asked.

Felicity immediately put her arms around her and hugged her tightly. This confused Rachel.

"What's wrong?" she asked with worry.

Felicity pulled away from hugging her and wiped away a few tears that threatened to shed.

"Mom, you're scaring me."

"Um, it's nothing," Felicity shook her head. "I'm just...I'm sorry."

"For what?" Rachel asked in confusion.

 _For letting you die? For not saving you? For ruining your life by sacrificing yourself for me?_ She thought, trying to find the right words. But Felicity didn't dare to say those things. Rachel didn't know she died. Felicity didn't know how to say it.

Instead, she smiled in order to hide her sadness. "For not being able to help you pass that Math test."

Rachel frowned at Felicity strangely before shrugging her shoulders. "It's fine, Mom. It's just a C-. It's not your fault. I'll get better next time."

"I just...wish I can do more for you...you know, to help you with your homework," Felicity said, the last part of the line being a lie.

"Mom, you've done so much for me. I never asked anything else from you. What more would I want?" Rachel said and embraced her. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you," Felicity said.

The car horn went off again and they heard Cisco yelling for Rachel to hurry up, that she was going to be late for school. Rachel released Felicity and smiled at her. "Bye."

With that, Rachel left the house, racing through the gravel yard and slipping through the gate of Merlyn Mansion where Cisco had his van parked on the sidewalk waiting for her. She waved Felicity goodbye before getting into the van's passenger's seat. Felicity waved back and the van drove away, disappearing down the road.

Once they were gone, Felicity shut her eyes and began to sob.

"Felicity? Felicity, what's wrong?" Slade asked worriedly.

Felicity opened her teary eyes and found herself lying in bed, the sheets wrapped around her nude body and Slade propped on his shoulder next her, looking down at her with a concerned expression on his face.

It was all a dream. Rachel wasn't alive. She was dead. It was all a dream. Felicity then realized she was crying in her sleep which explained why Slade called her and wore a concerned expression on his face. She never cried in her sleep. She mostly sleep-talks or snore. But she never sleep-cried. It was new to her. Slade found her like this and shook her awake.

"Are you all right?"

She smiled and place her hand upon his bearded jaw. "A little."

"You were crying," he sighed while wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

"...I saw Rachel," she sniffled and Slade froze at the mention of the deceased child. Therapy was helping so far but therapy doesn't help forget what happened. "She was all grown-up, beautiful, happy, charismatic and bright. She was in high school now and we were all living together as a family. She called you _Dad_ , a lot. And Cisco would pick her up for school instead of taking the bus. I think she had a crush on Cisco there." She giggled.

"God help us if that ever happened," Slade chuckled.

Felicity shook her head in disappointment. "But it won't. Rachel is dead. She's gone. And I'll never see her again." She pressed her head to his chest and sighed. "I messed up, Slade. Badly. I don't know how to forgive myself or how to continue being the Black Canary after everything that happened. I know that Diana wants me in her group but I don't know if I'm strong enough."

"But you are strong, Felicity," Slade assured her as he sat her up from the bed and stared into her eyes. "Even if you lost her, you never gave up looking for her, you never stayed put and you placed your fear towards Colton aside in order to save the people you care about. Most people like you would simply run away from their problems. I think Rachel would be more than proud to know that you were able conquer them all. Even I'm proud of you."

"...I feel bipolar at this moment," she giggled while wiping the rest of the tears away. "I want to be Black Canary...But I don't want to be Black Canary. The only reason I put on the mantle was for Sara. If I had given up the mantle to Laurel, she wouldn't be out there as Black Siren killing people and hating on Oliver for not avenging her death."

"That was a decision she made on her own, Felicity," Slade said sternly, "Even if you had given the mantle Laurel, there's still a great she'll end up going through that same path."

"She stole a VFX collar from S.T.A.R. Labs that imitates my sonic screams just in case I lost the ability," she said, "He didn't expect for Laurel to actually break into S.T.A.R. Labs to steal it."

"I'm just as surprised as you are," Slade sighed before lying back down on the bed. "Death can really change a person."

"It's my fault. I did this to her. Sara's death was because my father wanted me but she got in the way," she said. "Life sucks."

Slade brushed his fingers against her arm gently . "Life is unpredictable."

Felicity looked at his hand and took it in hers. "I've been trying to tell you something for awhile and I've been scared to tell -."

"You can't have kids," Slade said bluntly.

She stared at him with wide eyes, stunned that he already knew that she couldn't have kids. "You -?"

"-know? Felicity, I've been spying on Oliver Queen for quite a while which also includes the people around him. I saw your medical records. It's the reason why you took Rachel in your care. I knew before we met face to face," Slade said and smiled at her. "I don't care if you can't have kids. I'm not on this bed with you because I want to put a child in you. I'm here because I love you."

Felicity was crying again and wiped away her tears for it was getting ridiculous. She smiled and leaned down to press her forehead against his. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said. "...Accept Diana's offer, love. I want you back out there as Black Canary again. But this time under your account, don't do it for Sara. Don't do it for Laurel. Don't do it for me. Don't even do it for Rachel. Do it for yourself. Can you do that?"

Felicity took a moment to digest that. He wanted her back on the field as Black Canary even after everything that happened. She didn't know how to take that. Felicity took a moment to think. Secretly, she'd be doing it for Rachel. She wanted Rachel's death to have meaning. If she didn't become what she was now, Rachel's sacrifice would be pointless. Even if Slade was telling her to do it on her account, Felicity would still do it for Rachel. Of course, if she accepted Diana's offer, the first thing she wanted to do is find Laurel.

Felicity nodded and kissed Slade before manuvering on top of him.

She yelped when Slade flipped her to lie her down on the bed and got on top of her. "My turn this time," he smirked and kissed her deeply before thrusting himself inside her.

Hours later, Slade got out of the bed and headed for the bathroom to take a piss, leaving a sleeping Felicity. He closed the door shut and stood in front of the toilet where he emptied himself.

"You _fucking_ idiot."

Slade immediately turned around and spotted Shado standing a few feet away from him. He did not see Shado for a very long, ever since he first kissed Felicity, and for the first time he didn't want to see her. He didn't want her anywhere near her.

"You fucking asshole! You fucking traitor! You fucking lied to my fucking face!" she kept snapping at him in rage.

It was the first time he had ever heard her so angry. "What do you want?" he asked her in an unwelcoming matter.

"You promised that you would avenge me!" she snapped, tears pricking her eyes. "That you were going to kill him and everyone he loves for what he did to me! And here you are fucking the IT girl -."

"Her _name_ is Felicity Smoak," he snapped at her. "And she's the reason why I stopped carrying out my revenge on Oliver Queen. I did this for her."

"Then kill her," she pleaded, "Please, Slade, she's the reason we can't be together."

"I'm not killing her because I love her."

"But _I_ love you," she said.

"No, you don't. And the Shado I knew didn't love me either. She was in love with Oliver," he said. "And you were always kind to him, to both of us really. You wanting him dead? That's not how the real Shado is."

"He killed me. How else do you want me to be?"

"No. You're not Shado. You never were," he pointed out, "I realized this too late. I lost my son and my ex-wife because I listened to you. I lost everything because I listened to you. I'm tired of listening to you! I don't want to see you ever again!"

"It was Oliver, Slade!" Shado bellowed out tearfully, "He injected you with Mirakuru! He aimed the gun at my head -!"

"Get out. GET OUT!" he yelled angrily.

Shado didn't say anything to Slade. Instead, she screamed at him in anger, her eyes turning black and she immediately disappeared in flames.

Slade simply stared at the spot where she once stood, eye wide and wondering what the hell just happened. Felicity entered the bathroom with the sheets around her body and stared at him in confusion. She must have heard him yell and woke up to check on him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he apologized as he approached her and put his arms around her. "Sorry I awoke you."

"I nearly went through the roof. Are you okay?" she asked in concern.

"I'm fine now," he assured and kissed her head. "It's over. Everything will be fine now."

Felicity didn't say anything but simply went along with it and laid her on his chest. She could only guess what happened. Probably another episode with Shado. If he said that everything was going to be all right, he probably meant it would be the last time he'll ever see Shado.

* * *

 **The Glades...**

Lonnie Machin (aka. Anarky), a child prodigy with philosophical knowledge and driven to overthrow governments to improve social conditions, just kidnapped new mayor of Starling City Kate Spencer and was holding her hostage in one of the abandoned buildings. He had her tied to a chair and blind-folded. Anarky was already described by the SCPD to be a dangerous man, already deeming him as a sadist and a psychopath who takes pleasure in making his victims suffer. He killed cops and paramedics even while horribly injured himself. He enjoys playing mind games with his victims, feigning mercy before resuming his torture. He believes that the natural order is chaos and he would prove it to everyone in the world by pouring gasoline on the new mayor and setting her on fire, to let her slowly burn to death. He would take pure delight to hear her scream as the fire would eat away her flesh.

"Please don't kill me," Kate Spencer pleaded with cries. Of course, Anarky simply chuckled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mayor," he said, "Nothing personal. I mean, you did just started your new post in City Hall but people need to know. There is no real order. It's just in their minds. There are idiots out there that believe that they can't attack people of higher power because they are afraid of what will become of them afterwards but what they don't know is that there are millions of us and only few superiors who think that with a few words can keep everything in order. But they will soon realize, the only real order here is chaos. And I'll make sure everyone knows it."

He was typing through the computer while the video camera was focusing on her. He already hacked into every TV and laptop in the U.S. so everyone could watch. It would be broadcasted throughout the entire country and when the news hit, his message would spread to the entire world and everyone would heed his words, and the entire world would follow his chaotic ways, millions attacking authorities, politicians and government officials, and destruction everywhere.

"Now everyone will be free from people like you," he said pointing at her.

There was a crashing sound and a shadow figure crashed through the window into the abandoned building where Lonnie and Kate were. A figure that looked like a bat. It was the Dark Knight of Gotham himself Batman.

"Don't do it, Machin," he said.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Anarky asked. "This isn't your city."

"No, it's mine." the Arrow appeared from the shadows, bow in hand and aiming at Anarky, "He's just here for assistance."

"It doesn't matter now." Anarky took out a lighter from his pants' pocket and flicked it on, the flame dancing threateningly. "The world will see the truth that these people who believe to be superior than any of us, are not. They are just as vulnerable as we are."

"Killing the new mayor of Starling City does not show truth, it just makes you as bad as them," the Arrow said.

"I know it does," Anarky smirked, "I'm just doing it better." He then shouted. "You see, everyone? Heroes are supposed to protect us from evil and yet they protect the ones that oppress us the most! People like her!" He pointed at Kate. "If these are the kind of _heroes_ they believe to be, then we don't need them. We can fend for ourselves. We can become our own heroes and destroy our oppressors! And I will us all! Starting with the mayor of Starling City!"

Anarky tossed the lighter towards the puddle of gasoline around Kate Spencer's chair, only for the lighter to get caught by a ring of glowing yellow rope and pulled back before it could reach the puddle of gasoline. Anarky turned around to a black-haired woman dressed in red and gold armour, a blue leather short skirt with a tiara on her head and silver bracelets around her wrists, a shield in one hand a golden yellow rope in the other where the lighter was tied to.

"Holy shit," Anarky said in amazement. "You're Wonder Woman. Big fan, by the way."

Wonder Woman simply frowned strangely at Anarky before looking at Batman. "Um, thank you?"

"Could you please give me back the lighter?" Anarky asked. "I was just about to set the mayor on fire in front of millions."

"No, I will not give you back the light," she said.

Anarky brought out a gun and aimed it at Kate Spencer's head, only to yell out when his wrist got struck by a throwing star. He turned around to find the Boy Wonder smirking back at him while kneeled on top of a crate and with another throwing star in hand, already ready to throw it. Next to the Boy Wonder, there was Nightwing with Eskrima sticks and four newcomers: Deathstroke holding his sword ready, some kid in a brown leather jacket and blue goggles, a skinny guy in a red suit with a lightning bolt on his chest and an African-American with a helmet and a gun.

He wasn't afraid of the Boy Wonder, Nightwing or the guy in the helmet but he was concerned about Deahtstroke. He heard stories about Deathstroke and none of those stories were pleasant. In other words, he was in big trouble. Gulping, he quickly made a run for it to the exit, only to be blocked by a blonde woman dressed in black. Aside from Wonder Woman, she was the only one not wearing a mask or a cowl to conceal her identity.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked while looking up and down at her.

"The name is Black Canary, and you have failed this city," she said and let out the canary cry.

* * *

 **Three weeks later...**

 **S.T.A.R. Labs, Central City...**

Cisco was working on the new goggles for his Vibe suit, a codename Barry gave him. He would install sensors into the lens, sensors that could detect metahumans from a mile away. He was also fixing up his suit, made of brown, yellow and red leather. He knew that Slade already said _no_ but he wanted to work with him, not with the big leagues. Cisco didn't want more people like Colton running around in Central City or any other part of the world. He would do it for Rachel, to clean the world from psychopaths and sickos like Colton Smoak.

Caitlin entered the lab and knocked on the doorframe. "Hey."

Cisco looked up from his work to look at Caitlin and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hey, Cait," he sighed in exhaustion.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"8 hours," he shook his head and leaned back against the chair.

"Maybe you should take a break," she insisted kindly. She knew Cisco went through a lot and that he also blamed himself for Rachel's death just as Felicity did.

Cisco shook his head. "No, I'm good. I just want to finish this."

"...I know that you're still upset about what happened to Rachel. I get that and I'm really am sorry but you can't keep kicking your ass about it forever. It wasn't your fault," she kept telling him and it was true. It wasn't his fault. Colton was the one who killed Rachel, not Cisco.

"I was there, Caitlin. She died right in front of us and just sat there watching blood come out of her nose, mouth and eyes. I didn't do anything to help," Cisco said sternly, "I was too shocked and scared to do anything. Now she's dead. The only thing I can do is gear up and help take out psychos like Colton to keep this from happening again."

"You know you can't save everyone, Cisco," Caitlin said, "We only save the ones we can. We're not God."

Cisco pushed his hair back and sighed. "I know. I just wish I could have done more for her."

He looked at the Speak & Spell machine he gave to Rachel. It was lying on the work desk next to the lamp. Slade had given it back to Cisco after Rachel's funeral, thinking that Rachel would have wanted him to have it. Cisco didn't know whether to keep it or throw it away.

"Well...if you're going to be down here working all night, will you at least drink some coffee and eat Chinese food?" she asked, "I got some on the way here. I'd thought you'd be hungry. At least a 30 minute break?"

Cisco sighed again, putting a lot of thought to it. "Fine. 30 minutes. I'm starting to see double anyways."

Cisco got up from his seat and followed Caitlin out of the lab. He turned the lights off and shut the door, leaving the lab in complete darkness.

The Speak & Spell machine suddenly turned on and began to spell by itself: H...E...L...P...M...E. HELP ME.

* * *

 **THE END?**


	49. Thank You!

**Hey, guys. Thanks for reading. I really do hope you liked my fanfiction. And yes, that was the ending to** _ **The Canary Cry**_ **and thank God I finished it. lol. My hands are exhausted from writing this one. However, I do have a few grammatical and narrative errors I need to correct but I will get to them when I can. Anyways, I really want to thank all my followers for liking this story and for the reviews. You guys are awesome. I know some of you never agreed to the idea of Felicity taking the mantle of the Black Canary as well as some don't agree with Deathsmoak shipping. I am aware that Dinah Laurel Lance is the true Black Canary and I respect that. Dinah Lance will always be Black Canary. But this** _ **is**_ **just fanfiction and it will remain that way.** **I just like to write and tell stories.**

 **Either way, I had a lot of fun writing this story, creating a new storyline, adding new DC characters that a lot of people would wish to have it added on _Arrow_. I think one of most the important characters I imported in _The Canary Cry_ was Rachel Roth. If none of you are familiar with this character, you might be more familiar with her counterpart in the Teen Titans comics. Of course, after that tragic ending, you already know who she is. Duh. **

**I already planned on making a sequel to this story and it's going to be quite a surprise. Of course, the sequel won't be based on _Arrow_ nor will it focus on Felicity Smoak this time (yeah, I know some don't like her character ever since Season 3 and 4 happened). The sequel is going to have a newer focus in Central City with the Flash characters with only a few Arrow character appearances. This time the sequel is going to be darker and more rogue than this one. The sequel will be titled _Daughter of the Demon_ and it's a story I'm very excited to write. If you guys are interested in reading _Daughter of the Demon_ , you're welcome to read it, if not that's fine with me. I don't want to spoil things but I'll hint that the sequel will be a crossover of _The Flash_ with the _Teen Titans_ comics. Actually, hinting them already brings in spoilers so yeahhhh...**

 **Anyways, thank you all for reading** _ **The Canary Cry**_ **. You guys have been wonderful. And I hope to write again.**

 **Right now, I'm going to take a break from this story now that it's finished. I know that I said I'd be fixing grammar and narration errors but right now, my fingers are killing me from all the writing. So thanks. Love you all. And I'll see you around soon.**


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